Martin Brundle believes that the FIA guidelines “need a serious tweak and much simplification” after the United States Grand Prix. The guidelines surrounding on-track battling came under scrutiny once again after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ battle around the Circuit of The Americas which saw Norris receive a five-second penalty as a result of overtaking Verstappen off-track.
As we have seen many times, with an example being at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen uses the rules set guidelines set by the FIA to great advantage. In Austin, the Dutchman got to the apex of the corner first, meaning he was then able to take up as much of the track as possible, forcing Norris to go all the way around the outside and off the track.
Norris continued on and made the move, with the Brit and McLaren thinking that there would be no penalty as Norris had nowhere else to go, but because he made a move off the track and gained an advantage, a five-second penalty came his way, putting him behind Verstappen once again.
Brundle says the FIA rules are the issue, not the FIA themselves
In his Sky Sports column, Brundle first states where he stands with drivers battling on-track: “As far as I’m concerned, if you pass a car on the inside of a corner while remaining under control and not locked up and keeping within the track confines, then you have won the corner and can take the normal racing line through the exit, and it’s up to the driver who has been passed to yield, not to hit the throttle and inevitably run wide. George Russell took an unreasonable penalty for this in Austin because the guidelines had to be applied. As have others.”
For Russell, he was given a penalty for pushing the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas wide at turn 12, the same corner where Verstappen and Norris had their incident. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff branded that penalty as a “total joke”, so it seems the Austrian has some issues with the way the guidelines have been written for on-track battles as well.
“If Russell was penalised for running Valtteri Bottas wide, shouldn’t Verstappen have been penalised for running Norris wide at the same corner?”, continued Brundle, confused at the consistency used by the FIA. “And here’s another question, given Norris had passed Verstappen down the outside before turn 12, when Verstappen sailed back up the inside, who was actually doing the overtaking at the corner apex, Verstappen or Norris?
“The circuit layouts and run-offs create the problems, and the ever more complex driving rules fail to manage all of the inevitable and varied issues. Don’t simply blame the referees, that’s not fair and won’t solve the problem. The driving guidelines need a serious tweak and much simplification,” concluded the commentator.
