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The controversies of Mexico
Allan McNish was talking to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson
The Mexican Grand Prix ended in something close to farce. In more than 30 years in motorsport, I have never seen such a crazy situation as three people finishing third in an F1 race.
Verstappen crossed the line third but was demoted before he got to the podium. A frustrated Vettel went to the podium and therefore had to answer all the questions he did not want to be asked. And then he found out he, too, had been penalised and the guy who finished fifth, Verstappen's team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, was ultimately classified third.
It was a strange race, in that a manic first lap and crazy finish - produced by the various tyre strategies of Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo - bookended what was in between a pretty dull grand prix.
The series of controversial incidents during the race in Mexico City have led to a lot of discussion about Formula 1's rules and regulations in such circumstances.
Hamilton's first-lap incident
Many people - including Verstappen himself - have pointed out what they see as a contradiction between the fact that race-winner Hamilton did not receive a penalty for cutting across the grass at Turns One and Two on the first lap, and that Verstappen did for doing it later in the race.
I have been an official driver steward at a number of grands prix. And the way the rules are operated - and all the drivers and teams know about this - there was no contradiction.
Firstly, the start and first lap are treated differently from the rest of the race. That's not to say you can get away with anything - as was proved when Carlos Sainz was penalised for pushing Fernando Alonso on to the grass - dirty driving is still dirty driving and will be punished.
But little incidents, details of driving, are tolerated that would not be during the main part of the race, simply because it's an inevitably more hectic environment with so many cars together at the same time.
On the first lap, Hamilton locked a wheel and ran wide at Turn One. He cut across the grass and rejoined in Turn Two.
There were several reasons why he was not given a penalty: it was the first lap, when there is more latitude; he was not fighting with anyone - he was clearly in the lead and the battle was for second behind him; and he lifted off as soon as he rejoined the track.
That was quick and clear thinking from Hamilton and it was crucial because the stewards work on the basis of a rule that dictates a driver must not gain a "lasting advantage" by going off the track.
The lock-up and flat spot meant Hamilton ended up in a risky situation - it means big vibrations that not only shake the driver around but also risk breaking the suspension.
This famously happened to Kimi Raikkonen at the Nurburgring in 2005. He led much of the way, ran a long time on a tyre with a flat-spot on it, and the suspension shattered on the very last lap of the race.
Verstappen v Vettel at Turn One
Verstappen fitted his medium tyres to take him to the end of the race on lap 12, whereas Vettel did not stop until lap 33 - so had tyres with 21 laps less wear on them.
Coming up behind them was Ricciardo, who fitted new soft tyres on lap 51, with only 20 laps to go.
On old medium tyres, it is easier to lose tyre temperature on long straights, which was almost certainly a contributing factor to Verstappen locking up at the start of lap 68.
Verstappen wearing Day of the Dead facepaint at the Mexican Grand Prix
As if his driving wasn't unsettling enough... Verstappen is causing the whole sport to review how it races
He went off the track and across the grass within half a metre or so of the line Hamilton had been on at the start.
Could he have got the car back on to the track? Almost certainly. But he would have lost at least one position to Vettel and probably another to Ricciardo as well.
The problem was that going across the grass meant he gained and kept a lasting advantage as opposed to losing one. Hence the penalty.
The Vettel v Ricciardo incident at Turn Three
Verstappen's refusal to give the place to Vettel set up Ricciardo's attack on the German on the penultimate lap, as the Ferrari was being held back to the Dutchman's pace.
Ricciardo got a good run on Vettel out of Turn Two and I was surprised that Vettel did not move to the inside earlier to cover and try to send him around the outside - especially as he said afterwards he knows Ricciardo will often have an "optimistic" attempt, without question or hesitancy.
That gave Ricciardo a chance to have a go down the inside and he went for it at the exact moment they were coming into the braking area.
Vettel started to close the space in the braking area. This is something that has been discussed at a lot of drivers' briefings this season, predominantly in the context of Verstappen's driving.
A new clarification was brought out at the US Grand Prix, the week before Mexico, spelling out what was acceptable in this area.
The FIA said drivers' could not make any change in direction in the braking area that led to another driver having to take evasive action.
Why is this area so sensitive? Think back to the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season. There, owing to a misunderstanding in the braking area, Fernando Alonso's McLaren was launched over Esteban Gutierrez's Haas into an almighty accident.
Those are the risks of moving in the braking area.
So it was hardly surprising that the move was investigated and Vettel ended up being penalised.
The stewards did well to give Verstappen his penalty early enough before the podium ceremony; it was just a shame they could not manage that in time to get Ricciardo up on to the podium.
Ramifications for Vettel
Vettel has escaped sanction for the expletive-laden tirade he launched over the radio in the race.
But he has to bear in mind that he now has six penalty points on his licence - and if any driver gets 12 in any 12-month period, that is an automatic one-race ban.
The Vettel we are seeing now - both in and out of the car - is not the same man who won four consecutive world titles with Red Bull, or even who won three races for Ferrari last year.
Ferrari came into this season expecting to challenge Mercedes, but it has been a disappointing year, with questionable strategy and technical errors.
It looked for a while as if Vettel might win the opening race of the season in Australia, only for the team to make a bad strategic call when the race was stopped for Alonso's accident. Another potential victory went begging in Canada for similar reasons.
They have been leapfrogged by Red Bull - Vettel's former team - and only at seven of the 19 races so far this year has Ferrari's gap to pole position been closer than it was in 2015.
It has become a very frustrating season and there is no question there is a lot of pressure on that team.
Emotions are running high, and you can hear it in Vettel's radio messages, about slower drivers, blue flags, people blocking him - all expressed in the manner of someone who is very frustrated.
Yes, they are being broadcast. But they are being broadcast because he is making them. If he didn't, they couldn't broadcast them.
His comments about FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting - even though they were rooted in the fact that he felt no action was being taken about Verstappen, whose driving Vettel has been unhappy with on a number of occasions this year - are the ones that really caused an uproar.
When you're in the car, the emotions run high. Your brain is processing things at 200mph and all the energy and adrenalin means these things can bubble out.
I've done it as well. I remember in one race I was complaining about something and my engineer came back and said: "Allan, keep calm." The exact words Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said to Vettel on Sunday. And I replied: " I am ******* calm!" Clearly, I wasn't.
The bizarre thing about it all is that Vettel was voted driver of the day by the fans, and I suspect it was at least as much to do with his outpouring of emotion as it was for his driving.
So, fine, warn Vettel about certain aspects of his behaviour. But the fans connect to the emotions and action involved, and F1 needs to be aware of that.
The Controversial Mexican Grand Prix
Stefan Johansson chats with Jan Tegler
JT – Last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix was an unqualified success in terms of the enthusiasm and large turnout of Mexican fans. But the race itself was a mess. The officiating of the grand prix proved to be confusing for both fans and drivers.
Lewis Hamilton won from the pole despite out-braking himself at Turn 1 and reentering the track at full speed in Turn 3. No penalty was assessed though Hamilton clearly gained advantage. Nico Rosberg finished a somewhat distant second after surviving a hit from Max Verstappen at Turn 2 which forced him off track.
The third spot on the podium wasn’t decided until hours after the podium celebrations. Daniel Ricciardo was awarded third place due to penalties handed out to his Red Bull Racing teammate and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Battling for third with Vettel just behind in the last laps of the race, Max Verstappen blew Turn 1 in similar fashion to Hamilton, leaving the track and reentering at Turn 3. No penalty was issued as the laps wound down and Verstappen refused to cede the position to Vettel. This allowed Ricciardo to quickly catch Vettel and attempt to pass him for fourth position. Ricciardo saw an opening at Turn 4 and dived to the inside. Vettel squeezed him to the left under braking, making light contact with Ricciardo and held his position.
Post-race, the stewards handed Verstappen a five second penalty for blowing Turn 1 and pulled him from the podium, elevating Vettel to third place initially. But hours later Vettel was also penalized by the stewards, forfeiting 10-seconds “for driving in a potentially dangerous manner, making an abnormal change of direction, and causing another driver to take evasive action.”
Hence, Verstappen finished 4th while Vettel ended up 5th.
The lack of prompt action by the stewards for each infraction should be an embarrassment for Formula One principals. They failed to act when Hamilton made a mistake then waited to assess penalties on Verstappen and Vettel until after the race. There’s much to be said about the race and the inconsistent/un-timely rulings but I believe your thoughts begin with the track - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – itself.
SJ – You are correct. I’ve been trying to arrive at an answer as to why the officiating of F1 has become such a mess all of a sudden. It’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen drivers duke it out with three or four laps to go. That’s the kind of close competition people want to see but this was compromised.
The new track designs with massive asphalt run off areas have slowly and systematically been introduced to every new track and modified on most of the old and existing tracks, mostly for safety reasons. Since this started to happen there has been no clearly defined rule about exceeding track limits or taking advantage of the runoff areas. Because of this the drivers have been able to do pretty much whatever they have wanted without being immediately punished for their mistakes or abuse of the track limits, by simply continuing to race even though they’ve gone off-track.
In other words, the only punishment you can get now is what comes from the control tower rather than an immediate consequence for running off-track. Formula One needs to figure out how to reintroduce an immediate and natural punishment for going off-track.
Take, for instance, Lewis’ mistake at the start of the race. He braked too late, locked up, missed the corner and carried on without even losing a position. At a few other tracks if he’d done the same thing, missing the corner entry by breaking to late and then leaving the track, the best case scenario would be that he knocked off a front-wing endplate or something and would have to pit. Or he might have gotten stuck in a gravel trap. Maybe he gets towed out of it but loses lots of positions or even a lap.
In the past, even when you had an area where there was a clear runoff or an “escape road” as it used to be called, the rule was always that you had to wait to rejoin the track until the marshals waved you on – in other words, when the track was clear. I can’t actually remember why and when that rule changed or was no longer enforced but it used to always be the rule. Knowing this, you had no choice but to be a lot more cautious of missing the entry to the corner as it effectively would ruin your race in many cases. What used to be the escape road is now effectively the entire area past the track limit as there is no longer any definition beyond that point but instead just one huge patch of asphalt in most cases, which of course make the re-entry to the track much more difficult to control. Now drivers just keep their boot in it and keep going, entering the track wherever it suits them.
And really, so would I. Because if you can get away with that, that’s what you do. Anyone with even an inkling of competitive spirit would do the same thing. Without clearly defined rules as to what you can and can’t do, this is what happens.
Lewis did exactly the same thing as Verstappen. Both of them blew Turn 1 but Verstappen was penalized and Lewis wasn’t. The rulings are completely random, all over the map.
What I’m getting at is that the fact that these situations now have to be controlled and decided by a human being is wrong. There should be an immediate, natural consequence for screwing up. They need to figure out a way to redesign these modern race tracks to bring that about. The way things are now makes it a complete mockery of the sport. The drivers don’t know if they’re coming or going.
At the end of this race time penalties were handed out. Whether what Verstappen did was right or wrong – personally, I think it was wrong but it’s not for me to decide – he should have been told to immediately give up his position to Vettel if he was judged to be wrong. In the end, instead he lost two places. He gave up a position to Vettel and then lost one to Ricciardo. This is not fair on Verstappen’s part as he lost one position more than he should have and gave an unfair benefit to Ricciardo who had nothing to do with the battle between Vettel and Verstappen but gained one position more than he should have thanks to the time penalty. There is no science behind these time penalties but just a random number picked out of the blue. Who says 5 seconds is the correct penalty, why not instead 10 seconds, or 3, they’re all completely random numbers and does not relate to the “crime” in any way.
By being wishy-washy and not having consistency in the officiating, F1 has allowed the situation to get out of control. We need to find a way to go back to basics and try to avoid having to make calls from the control tower when they should be decided on or by the race track itself.
We have street circuits on the F1 calendar. They don’t have runoff areas and at each one you avoid these situations because there’s nowhere to go beyond the track limits, if you do you hit a wall. Look at old pictures of circuits where the curbs are a foot high at a 45-degree angle. You sure as hell weren’t going to run over those curbs. You had to adapt and drive accordingly. Interestingly, if you look back and do the statistics, I don’t think there were any more incidents or serious accident because of these kerbs, because people simply had to drive with this in mind, which again sorted the good ones from the average in a much better way.
JT – There are multiple specific examples of F1’s inconsistency in officiating that stem from rulings/non-rulings in Mexico. Another you mention is their ruling on Vettel’s battle with Ricciardo.
SJ – With two laps to go, Vettel basically did what Verstappen has done in most races this year and he gets penalized. Verstappen is yet to receive a penalty for the same actions.
Yes, they changed the rule about moving in a braking zone, or said they would enforce it harder from Texas onwards but all they’re doing is just adding another element of confusion. There are so many ways to interpret this same issue that it’s become an almost impossible task to hand out a fair penalty. At some point they just need to let the drivers get on with it.
Assume for a moment that Verstappen was racing in NASCAR. He wouldn’t have finished one race this season. He would have been in the wall every single race if he had applied the same attitude he’s shown in F1 so far. The other drivers would have sorted him out in no time until he would have shown a mutual level of respect that the other competitors showed to him. Of course, you can’t do that in open wheel cars but I remember numerous times when there were a very frank conversation at the back of a truck (hauler) somewhere. That’s how it used to get sorted out if someone stepped out of line. And before you knew it everyone was falling into line. Look at the guys who’ve gone into NASCAR from other series – Montoya, Tony Stewart, all of these great drivers. They all had to pay their dues. Correct the problem with the tracks and let the drivers sort on-track behavior out among themselves. They’re supposed to be the best in the world and it wouldn’t take long for a pattern to form where everyone would be on the same page. There are always exceptions of course and every generation seems to have a resident idiot in the field, but generally speaking, they are rarely one of the top guys as they are clever enough to understand that those methods are not winning you races and championships in the long run.
JT – One has to wonder why the FIA waited to issue penalties until after the race? Why couldn’t they have been issued immediately – particularly regarding Verstappen or Hamilton. Those were clear-cut infractions. And if a penalty had been issued in timely fashion, wouldn’t that have diffused the situation that arose between Vettel and Ricciardo?
SJ – Exactly, as I said before, the penalty should have been immediate. Within a lap they should have got on the radio and told Verstappen to let Vettel go by.
What choice did Vettel have? He gets backed up into Ricciardo and he’s all of a sudden looking at losing 4th place and being 5th when he should have been in 3rd place. Any driver would have had the same level of frustration, it goes without saying and that leads to my next point.
I don’t remember when this whole open-radio policy began where the public can hear conversations between the drivers and teams. I guess that’s part of the entertainment now but if you allow and promote that then you’re going to have to expect that drivers are going to show their frustration now and then. Why should that surprise anyone? At least you’re hearing a live, breathing human being showing real emotion instead of drivers thanking the team, sponsors, their parents, etc – all that stuff you normally hear on the slowing down lap has become almost meaningless.
What Vettel said shows what’s actually going on in the car and I can relate to it 100 percent. Normally when you get on the radio like that, you just want to blow off some steam. Yes of course, you have to try to control yourself but I’ve certainly been guilty of using far worse language than Vettel did.