Last Updated on March 11 2024, 2:20 pm

The FIA under president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has faced a number of controversies staring day 1 with the fallout from the Formula One 2021 season decider in Abu Dhabi. There has been ‘jewellary-gate’ which brought Hamilton into conflict with the sport’s governing body and conflict with the commercial rights owners for its refusal to sanction an increase to six Sprint races a season.

In fact it was this flashpoint which set the two bodies at odds with each other as the FIA held out for nine months until it received increased funding to police the extra events.

 

 

 

FIA struggling with track limits

Since then the FIA green lighted the Andretti F1 application only for FOM to say they refused to enter into a commercial arrangement with the American based new team. Fans and commentators alike would love to see more teams and cars given how it is nigh on impossible for thing star young arrivers to break into the sport and so on this topic the FIA has public support.

Further on Ben Sulayem’s watch race control has tightened its grip on track limit transgressions now policing the entire white line which runs around each and every F1 circuit. This is something Charlie Whiting once claimed to TJ13 was “impossible” to do, yet now there is support for the race director back at a beefed up race control centre in Geneva.

Multiple cameras and sensors are now installed at each circuit to keep track of any violations and breaches which occur in practice or qualifying will result in a driver seeing their lap time get deleted. In a race the driver will be warned three times and then a punishment of a five second time penalty has been awarded, either taken at a pay stop or added to the drivers final time at the chequered flag.

On the whole the black and white approach to punishing all cars leaving the track has found favour with F1 fans, though one particular venue has proven problematic over the past two years.

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Red Bull Ring fiasco

At the remodelled Red Bull Ring in Austria the final two corners have proven to be a bug bear for drivers and fans alike. So much time can be made up by running wide, the drivers who are pushing flat out regularly make mistakes and exceed the white lines in their efforts to deliver ever quicker lap times.

At last year’s Grand Prix in Styria, the F1 stewards were overwhelmed with some 1200 reported track violations which they could not process during the Grand Prix on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton was the first to receive a penalty for exceeding track limits as Lando Norris provided a running commentary lap after lap of the former F1 champions off track excursions.

Hamilton complained his car “wouldn’t turn” but was still slapped with a 5 second penalty for repeated offences. Having been informed of his punishment by the team it was then Lewis’ turn to report a number of his rivals for going off track and the race narrative became solely about the track limits difficulties.

Just two drivers were not warned or sanctioned being George Russell and Fernando Alonso. The after the race was over, Aston Martin protested the result claiming a number of cars had not been properly punished. Five hours later the stewards issued the revised final classification with some drivers and team bosses already on flights home.

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New kerbs failed in Qatar

The FIA issued a statement saying they would investigate the matter further, and the consensus on the day was the track limits issue was now being over policed by F1’s governing body.

Yet behind the scenes the circuit management had been instructed to change the kerning at these two corners which would produce a natural deterrent preventing there driers exceeding the white lines. The Red Bull Ring procrastinated and refused to take action which then led to the farcical scenes at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.

New kerbs had been designed which would significantly affect the tyre wear and were seen later in the year in Qatar with the intention of forcing the drivers to remain within the white lines. But due to the high speed nature of the Qatar track layout and where they were placed, the tyre damage was too great said Pirelli and caused a serious risk to the integrity of the rubber.

So the circuit was revised on day 2, but it is expected to continue to receive their FIA grade 1 classification required to host a Grand Prix, that the Red Bull Ring will indeed fit these kerbs for this seasons event.

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Austrian circuit faces loss of grade 1 license

If they again refuse the FIA hinted they would revoke the track certification which would of course then cause another huge row between themselves and the F1 commercial rights holders.

In an attempt to provide a backup plan should such a standoff take place, the FIA invited the drivers during the winter break to discuss how they should punish track limits violations this season. Just eight bothered to attend but it was agreed that the stewards could now award 10 second time penalties for exceeding the white lines, something which came into force during the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Kevin Magnussen cut a corner in his battle with Yuki Tsunoda and refused to give the place back to the Racing Bull driver. Given his place in the race order at the time it was quickly evident he would not be able to recover and score points for the Haas F1 team.

The response from Haas was to instruct Magnussen to driver slowly enough to allow his team mate ahead on track to build a sufficient gap to Tsunoda and the rest that when he stopped for fresh tyres, the German driver would retain his P10 scoring a point for the team. The Haas was quicker down the main straight than those behind and so Magnussen was never in danger of being overtaken as he plodded around the twisty sections of the track.

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FIA bigger track limits penalties

Of course the Racing Bull team have since complained of “unsporting behaviour” from Haas F1 and claim the ten second penalty was the root of the problem.

Yet a driver choosing to take a penalty rather than concede a position was already a problem when the punishment was 5 seconds. George Russell in Monza last year passed Esteban Ocon off track and chose to accept the penalty because it would result in less of an over all time loss he would suffer stuck behind the Alpine at the end of the race.

So whether five or ten seconds the issue remains and the solution is one which F1 used to apply. The stewards would instruct the team of a driver who had gained a position “unfairly” to rescind it or face a significant post race punishment in the form of a position drop.

But the teams complained this was too draconian, so they were allowed the option of retaining positions “unfairly” achieved but would receive a time penalty instead.

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Disqualification and grid drop solution

Clearly each team now takes a strategic decision whether to instruct their driver to give a place back or not based on their calculations as to which option favours them better.

Its simply time for the FIA to return to drivers being instructed to give back the place, but would Magnussen have even then done so knowing it would be just he that was sanctioned and not scoring points anyway?

The FIA should consider a sanction in such instances that penalises the entire team, even though their other driver may be innocent of any such action. Yet to ensure the sanction is watertight, the disqualification of both drivers who may not score points anyway should be backed up by grid drops at the following F1 weekend.

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