This era of Formula One will become known for the current FIA’s presidents mission to crack down on track limits violations. “My leadership team inherited a number of challenges when we took office at the end of 2021,” Ben Sulayem admitted to Autosport.

“It has been well documented that one of those was Race Control management. We have made changes to the Race Control operation and we have devised the High Performance Programme to ensure that we have a pathway of talent coming through for the years ahead.”

Despite big spending on the new state of the art Geneva based race control centre the FIA officials faced their worst nightmares last year at both the Austrian and Qatar Grand Prix. In Austria some 1200 track limits violations were recorded with the stewards only able to issue final race classification in the early hours of Monday morning.

 

 

 

Qatar track limits re-painted

Qatar 2023 was also problematic when it became clear after the first rounds of practice the kerbs protecting the track limits at certain high speed corners were in fact destroying the Pirelli rubber. Overnight the track was reconfigured with the troublesome turns seeing the white lines brought inside from their previous position together with fake kerbs painted onto the circuit to offer the drivers a better perspective.

Ben Sulaymaniyah was questioned after the Qatari debacle and it was put to him something further needed to be done. “You’re absolutely right about it, we had the same issue in Austria, it was 1200 [offences there],” said the FIA president. 

“And I have to say, congratulations to the stewards because they spotted it. But is that the solution? No. The solution is to improve the track itself. I know some are resistant to it, but to tell you the truth, if they don’t, there is no race. It is as simple as this. We can’t afford this.”

The organisers in Austria were indeed threatened with the canceling of their F1 race contract given they had refused to address the issue as instructed by the FIA. Come this year in Spielberg, the troublesome turns at the end of the lap were spotted featuring a strip of grass and half a cars width of gravel trap alongside.

Norris/Verstappen clash in FIA confrontation over stewarding

 

 

 

COTA promised better track limits

It worked a trick as the drivers treated the corners with more respect and few found themselves running wide as they had done in previous years.

In the run up to this year’s USGP, the promoters announced their preparations for this year’s event included a re-paved circuit along with modifications to corners designed to lessen the number of track limits violations. Arriving at the circuit it was immediately evident the re-surfacing was only partial and in places the old ‘slippery’ asphalt remained in important traction zones.

Track limits proved again to be problematic in Austin, with Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell and Lando Norris all being hit with penalties from the stewards. The Norris/Verstappen incident created a huge amount of debate over driving standards as the world champion appeared to game the rules relating to the right to the corner.

Lando had completed his move on Verstappen along the COTA back straight when at the last moment the Red Bull driver made a lunge up the inside to claim the corner. The result, both cars failed to remain on the circuit, but Verstappen was not punished.

F1 driver admits to “cribbing” team mates data

 

 

 

Verstappen clashes with Norris

Max had technically satisfied the FIA stewarding guidelines over having the “right” to the corner and no sanction was forthcoming from the stewards. This created a febrile atmosphere in the paddock with a number of drivers airing their past grievances over Verstappen’s driving style.

The starting grid for the Mexican Grand Prix had Verstappen and Norris adjacent to each other behind pole sitter Carlos Sainz. Anticipation was high in the paddock over whether the combatants would all survive a clean turn one after the longest run on the F1 calendar down to the first corner.

Lewis Hamilton now claims he knew there’d be trouble involving Verstappen particularly after the criticism the Dutch driver had received during the week. Lewis recounts the “plume of smoke” he saw up ahead early in the race stating he knew Max Verstappen would be involved somehow even though he was out of view.

Max clashed twice with Lando Norris on lap 10 of 71 and was awarded a ten second time penalty for each of the incidents. Hamilton confirmed after the race he had yet to see a replay of the coming together at turn 7 but he was unsurprised to discover his arch rival had been involved.

Mexican fans backlash at Red Bull treatment of Perez

 

 

 

Hamilton chuckles at Max misfortune

“I have not seen it,” the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion told assembled media after the chequered flag. ”I could see a group of cars ahead and I saw a plume of smoke, like dust and I knew it was – I knew it must have been [Verstappen].

Chuckling to himself Lewis answered his own rhetorical question: “Like, for sure it was him.”

Lewis and Max’s rivalry now extends over a number of years with the pair duking it out blow for blow during the 2021 season. Both were guilty that year of taking out the other driver according to the stewards and there remains the iconic picture record from Monza which shows the rear of Verstappen’s car hanging precariously close to Hamilton’s head as the wheels continued to spin.

Verstappen grid drop looms

 

 

 

Verstappen “getting away with it for so long”

After Norris and Verstappen’s late-race drama at the Circuit of the Americas in the previous round, the subject of driving standards was a hot topic over the weekend in Mexico City. Lewis is not backwards in coming forward on the topic of his arch rivals driving style and he had his say during the media day before the cars hit the Mexican track in anger. 

“It’s always been a grey area,” Hamilton revealed. “That’s why he’s [Verstappen] got away with it for so long.

“I experienced it many times with Max. You shouldn’t be able to just launch the car up the inside and be ahead and then go off, and still hold the position.”

The FIA driver briefing in Mexico was dominated by the interpretation of the stewarding guidelines and it has been agreed the FIA will draft some alternative wording to the current rules for the driers to agree prior to the start of the 2025 season.

Wolff falsely claims the stewards have set a “precedent”

 

 

 

Ferrari now implicated by FIA clamp down

Whilst the 2024 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix five weeks ago has for most faded into a distant memory, the FIA campaign to clamp down on ‘bad language’ announced before the city state’s Grand Prix is set to rear its head again.

Max Verstappen had faced questions in the Singapore FIA drivers’ press conference on how his car had performed the week prior at the Azerbaijan weekend. The world champion replied: “As soon as I went into qualifying, I knew the car was f***ed,”Verstappen said while explaining his tricky Baku weekend.

This was deemed to be a breach of Article 12.2.1.k of the international sporting code, relating to the catch all clause of “any misconduct”. The stewards stated it was FIA policy to “ensure that language used in its public forums, such as press conferences, meets generally accepted standards for all audiences and broadcasts”, particularly with regard to statements made by drivers and team representatives with the consideration that they are “role models both inside and outside the sport”… READ MORE