Formula 1 drivers say the series needs to tighten up its rules after a series of penalty calls at the United States Grand Prix provoked controversy.
Many also called for the physical limits on track boundaries introduced at several circuits this year to be widely adopted.Over the course of F1’s two races in Austin, the stewards imposed a total of five penalties on drivers for either forcing a rival off the track or gaining an advantage by running wide. Oscar Piastri’s sprint race penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly wide was a particularly cause for concern, and Lando Norris’ penalty for overtaking Max Verstappen when his rival defended his position by leaving the circuit also attracted much debate.
Gasly believes some drivers exploit the current rules in an “unfair” way. “Austin highlighted that there is definitely something that’s got to be changed,” he said.
“I think there is the rule as it’s written and there is more the common sense on how you want to approach racing. There is this grey area at the moment which allows us drivers to benefit from the regulation in a kind of unfair way of approaching racing.
“This is something which I guess we all agree and which will be worked on with the FIA on how to improve things because there have been a couple of incidents which got us [in] mixed feelings on the decision that came out of it. I think we all need some clarity and a bit better-written rules to improve the racing for the future.”
Last weekend’s winner Charles Leclerc was not involved in any of the incidents but also sees a need for change in the rules. He expects drivers to raise the matter with race director Niels Wittich in tomorrow’s meeting.
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“There are few things maybe in Austin that I have seen that we maybe have to discuss with the FIA, because I feel like the penalties were sometimes a little bit too harsh,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we all align, the FIA and us drivers, in order to make sure that it’s clear what we can do and what we cannot do.
Alexander Albon believes the FIA needs to revise its rules to ban the kind of defensive move Verstappen performed by going off the track to prevent Norris overtaking him.
“Yes, there most probably should be,” he said. “I think it’s tricky, because he’s still in control, but it’s still off the circuit. So it most probably needs to be some kind of sentence around if you then end up going off the track yourself, there needs to be some kind of fall back or ‘give back the position’ or something like that.”
However he pointed out that the wide asphalt run-offs at the Circuit of the Americas also contribute to the problem. Other tracks such as the Red Bull Ring, Hungaroring and Shanghai International Circuit have added small gravel traps to corners to prevent drivers abusing track limits.
“We shouldn’t even be talking about it, really,” he told the official F1 channel. “I feel like the way the tracks are designed now, it allows us to do so much.
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“As drivers, we are playing it to the rulebook and we know what we’re doing. There’s no hiding that. If you’re the car in front and you squeeze a driver off, we know what we’re doing.
“If you’re the car on the outside claiming the car squeezes you off and stay on the outside, we know what we’re doing. So in some ways we just need tracks that don’t allow that.
“The Red Bull Ring was a great example with the gravel that they put in. It eliminated the track limits [problem], but it also eliminated that kind of racing where it’s all a little bit 50-50. I think that would be the way to go.
“I know it’s not always logical or easy for the organisers to do, but it would make racing like that much easier to follow and understand and drivers would know when to not commit and drive off the circuit.”
Several drivers agreed with Albon’s point about track limits. Nico Hulkenberg described turn 12 at the Circuit of the Americas as “one of the hotspots” for trouble while Sergio Perez said the venue “is really the worst for it in terms of track layout.”
“Turn one, turn 12, even turn 11 can be quite difficult in that regard,” he said. “It can go in your favour or against you. I think here, for example, it wouldn’t be an issue.”
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2024 Mexican Grand Prix
- McLaren have no regrets over pitting Norris shortly before red flag came out
- Leclerc fined, avoids same penalty as Verstappen after apologising for swearing
- Leclerc not in the clear over swearing as Verstappen claims he went unpunished
- Majority of drivers wanted racing rules to change “straight away” – Russell
- Verstappen was “over the limit” with Norris but others would do same – Leclerc
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
24th October 2024, 23:28
I agree wants the point in racing otherwise. Verstappen should have been more heavily penalised earlier in his career.
Ben
25th October 2024, 0:19
+1
Max has pretty much caused this because the FIA were so weak in 2021. Desperate for a championship battle they ignored some of the worst “racing” I’ve ever seen.
Brazil,Monza, Saudi all should have been big penalties but because of the show and the “let them race” nonsense Max and other drivers got it into their heads that this was somehow good, fair racing.
The fact he still gets away with it is crazy. If he’s the car on the inside there’s no penalty, yet when he’s the car on the outside there’s also no penalty. It’s easy to be ahead at the apex when you carry 30mph more into the corner with zero intention of staying on track.
Ruud
25th October 2024, 14:24
Max adapted to Norris his racing style in his attempt to be as fast as possible to the Apex. It is relative motion due to speed difference. And that is hard to understand when not racing yourself.
Imagine when the outer lane has free passage, we then better stop calling it “racing”.
What about braking and blocking on the straights in initial braking way before the apex, isn’t that exactly the same?
So it is typical for particular corners where this kind of racing occurs. Enjoy it I would suggest, even when you’r a Brit!
drmouse (@drmouse)
25th October 2024, 18:23
It is racing if the driver on the inside keeps it on track, but that’s not what verstappen does. He intentionally carries too much speed on order to get to the apex, even knowing that he’s incapable of making the corner. That’s no longer racing, it’s unsportsmanlike at best. It’s easy to claim an apex if you just don’t brake, of you ignore the corner and just run your opponent off the track.
PB
24th October 2024, 23:36
“because he’s still in control, but it’s still off the circuit”
If he’s both in control and still off the circuit he made a choice to leave the circuit and drive the other driver off any natural
racing line and/or off circuit to force his positional advantage.
It’s therefore cheating. Interlagos was even more egregious because he also missed the apex.
But this is a CLEAR pattern and outside normal fair racing tactics.
drmouse (@drmouse)
25th October 2024, 18:24
Agreed. If he’s in control, he’s intentionally cheating.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
24th October 2024, 23:41
To me it’s pretty clear one rule they could implement without even changing a rule, just the interpretation of it. It’s already the case that if you go off track while overtaking someone, it’s a penalty because you gained an advantage by going off track. Why is defending a position any different? If you defend a position by going off track, why not give them the same option of either giving up the place voluntarily, or risking a 10 second penalty?
It might not always be clear if the driver would have lost the position had they stayed on track, but I guess that’s why you should make sure you stay within the white lines. If the attacking driver gets alongside the lead driver in the braking zone – inside or outside – and stays on track, while the lead driver doesn’t – the lead driver has to concede the place or get a penalty.
David BR (@david-br)
25th October 2024, 0:44
@keithedin +1
Reflecting on last weekend, I think a 10 second penalty for overtaking off-track is fair. First it should be a clear no, you can’t overtake by using non-racing-track; second, we’ve seen drivers cynically pass off-track and then get far enough ahead that the penalty doesn’t matter. That shouldn’t be an option either.
But I did think driving off-track to defend had been ruled out, particularly to prevent divebombing. My question (= real scepticism) is whether, had Lando returned the place, Verstappen would have been penalized. I simply don’t trust stewards to penalize him. And I don’t think other teams and drivers do either. That’s kind of disgraceful. And Masi set the (low) standard.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
25th October 2024, 18:25
@david-br I agree that if Norris has given the place back, I’m not sure the stewards would have given any penalty to Max. Especially since that would be bad for ‘the show’. So, maybe that was on McLaren’s minds when they decided not to tell Lando to give it back. It was that, or they thought he’d get 5 seconds and had a better change of pulling that gap than passing Max legitimately.
MacLeod (@macleod)
25th October 2024, 8:45
@keithedin because with the rule is who is first at the apex it’s his corner so he can’t get a penaulty to get a advantage because it’s his corner.
They need to changethe apex rule, it’s like F1 desiging In the spirit of the game or the rules of the game.
David BR (@david-br)
25th October 2024, 13:19
@macleod But not if you go off track when defending or overtaking on the inside. I keep saying this, but I’m certain this ‘clarification’ was introduced at the end of 2021, after Verstappen’s ludicrous defense at Interlagos. Then at the race start at Abu Dhabi he pushed Hamilton off at the first corner but he stayed on track. (And then we had the issue of whether Hamilton had slowed sufficiently to compensate for his off-track advantage.) COTA was different because Norris was attacking on the outside, not defending.
Norris could have tried on the inside. But of course if you’re a championship rival and you do try to overtake Verstappen on the inside, he’ll turn in and crash deliberately. So there’s always that to consider.
Asanator (@asanator)
25th October 2024, 17:53
Was Norris the attacking driver though, one could argue that Norris had passed Vestappen on the straight and was the defending driver going into T12.
drmouse (@drmouse)
25th October 2024, 18:26
No matter about the apex rule, he still gained an advantage by leaving the track and could be penalised for it.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
25th October 2024, 18:27
@macleod My suggested rule would effectively overrule the ‘apex rule’ if the driver claiming the apex couldn’t stay on track while his opponent did.
V. Chris (@vasschu)
25th October 2024, 7:28
I read a lot of comments these days suggesting rule fixes, but all of them focus on this particular situation. They might fix this exact scenario, but how many more troubles will create? I’ve seen so many battles where the lead driver goes off track (not necessarily pushing his rival) how this will affect them? And even with the new hypothetical rule I would guess the one to exploit it will be Max, not Lando. He will find a way – like start divebombing on the outside and just wait for his rival to cross the white lines once.
Ludewig
25th October 2024, 10:41
You don’t get it, it is all rage and anger at their homeboy losing out. There are no principles behind it or any consideration of how the rule works out in practice. If the situation had been reversed, they wouldn’t be complaining.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th October 2024, 7:32
FIA should simply stop with this ambiguous ahead or behind at the apex factor & only go with whatever happens afterwards with track limits, especially if both drivers involved go beyond the white line like in both the VER-NOR & VER-SAI situations, & especially start being fully consistent with their rule application.
baasbas
25th October 2024, 15:13
I’ll do you all one better! This specific example can be solved and I can do it without adding a rule!
In fact, I can solve it by removing a rule!
Just remove track limits.. that’s it. Don’t dismiss it, check indy round cota first. They’re all fine and they run ridiculously wide… because they can. Norris would have got him, no penalty shenanigans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cclCzOvavhY&t=38