In the wake of Max Verstappen’s controversial post-race penalty at the United States GP, several high-profile Formula 1 personalities have criticised how modern circuits are designed to allow such incidents to occur.
The Dutchman was awarded a five-second time penalty for cutting the track and gaining an advantage after overtaking Kimi Raikkonen by putting all four wheels inside the apex kerb of Turn 17 on the final lap.
The arguments used by those angry with the stewards’ decision is that drivers had been taking liberties with track limits all weekend without penalty so why then put a dampener on a spectacular ending by penalising a driver for the same offence, in other words, where’s the consistency?
“In all other cases where the drivers left the circuit, they went a longer distance. Max, on the other hand, cut the corner with all four wheels,” said FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting addressing that very question.
Lewis Hamilton also agreed to the penalty, stating “He’s off track!” but admitted the simple fact Verstappen could take a line which was inside the kerb was another frustration he had.
“This is the problem with today’s circuits there are all these run-off areas,” the Mercedes driver said. “If that was grass, he wouldn’t have gone there. I don’t know why they made all these floors on the circuit.
“Particularly like the new generation of driver coming in and is very happy to exploit those things. Clearly, he’s way off the line, he can’t go there.”
The non-Executive Chairman of Mercedes actually disagreed that Verstappen had gone off the track, adding: “Why can you not driver over white lines if it is possible? Build a wall there if you want, but as long as there is normal circuit you can use it. The white line is not a limit, we agreed this last year. It was all agreed and now this. I think it’s wrong, completely wrong.”
The Austrian’s biggest quarrel with the penalty, however, is that it signals a return to stewards targeting every small potential infraction of the regulations going against efforts to allow the drivers to race more freely.
“We agreed all together that the stewards would not interfere. Very simple,” the triple world champion said. “If the driver goes over another and [ends up] upside down, only then would they weigh in. That was at the beginning of last year.
“For six months it was OK, but this decision today was the worst I’ve ever seen. He [Verstappen] did nothing wrong. These are racing drivers and we are not on the normal roads and it is ridiculous to destroy the sport with these kind of decisions.
“At the next Strategy [Group] meeting we will put it back on the agenda and start all over again because we cannot do that. They go too far and interfere and there was nothing to interfere with. It was normal overtaking.”
For Red Bull boss Christian Horner, there is also the consideration of how such penalties make sense for the fans.
“Where do you draw the line? For the fans and casual viewers, it needs to be clear,” he said. “How can you say what Valtteri did (when he stayed in front of Daniel Ricciardo by running wide at Turn 1 early on), on one hand, is okay but what Max did isn’t?
“In any other sport if you are out you are out. You can’t have it’s alright to be out there but not okay to be out here. Either get rid of it completely and just let them race. Or if you don’t want the cars to go there put in a gravel trap or bigger curbs or a deterrent for drivers not to go there.”
It is thought Verstappen could be in hot water with the FIA after claiming “one idiot steward” was to blame, though there has been no word yet if the governing body considers that bringing F1 into disrepute.
