Debate about Formula 1’s overtaking rules and the consistency of stewards’ decisions was thrust into the spotlight again after several disputed incidents over the United States Grand Prix weekend, headlined by the podium-losing penalty Lando Norris received by passing Max Verstappen.
In a potentially significant moment for the final weeks of the 2024 title race in Austin, Norris was given a five-second time penalty imposed as Sunday’s race reached its conclusion for a lap-52 pass on Red Bull rival Verstappen in a controversial moment which saw both cars run wide off the track before the McLaren rejoined ahead.
Although McLaren and Red Bull unsurprisingly saw the Turn 12 incident differently, each making the case afterwards as to why their respective driver was not in wrong, race stewards ruled that Norris had gained the position outside of the regulations.
In explaining that decision, the stewards’ official verdict made reference to the ‘Driving Standards Guidelines’ – a document outlining the latest rules of engagement in wheel-to-wheel combat, which has had input from F1 drivers and been updated for this year, ahead of a planned formal insertion into the FIA’s International Sporting Code that governs all motorsport in 2025.
“Car 4 [Norris] was overtaking Car 1 [Verstappen] on the outside, but was not level with Car 1 at the apex,” said the stewards. “Therefore under the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 4 had lost the ‘right’ to the corner.
“Accordingly as Car 4 left the track and returned in front of Car 1, it is deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.”
Are the guidelines on wheel-to-wheel racing fit for purpose?
In forensic analysis of the incident on the SkyPad during Sky Sports F1’s coverage after the race, Anthony Davidson said: “The rule says you need a significant part of your car ahead of the car when you’re the overtaker, especially by the time you get to the apex, which is the middle of the corner.
“But it’s clear [Norris] is not ahead by the time he gets to the apex. When he starts turning in to the corner initially by a tiny bit of the car he is, but at the key point in the corner he’s not.
“The car that’s in the defensive position is now actually ahead and you can dictate where you put the car.
“Pushed off the track? You could argue you were, but you were not ahead.”
“[Stewards] have been quite consistent all the way through this weekend. I’ve seen cars overtaken off the track in that very corner and receiving a five-second penalty, so in that they were consistency.”
Fellow Sky F1 pundit Jenson Button, though, questioned the rule as a whole and argued it gives leeway to the defending car on the inside, in this case Verstappen, to simply run deeper into the corner than they would normally to ensure their car’s front axle is ahead when defined by the guidelines, irrespective of whether they run off track by doing so on exit.
“The thing I find very difficult is, yes, he’s in front at the apex but he’s in front at the apex because he’s outbraked himself,” said Button of Verstappen.
“He knows he has to have his nose in front when he gets to the apex, and he’s done that.
“This is the problem with the regulation because if he knows he has to have his nose in front at the apex he just lifts off [the brakes] and just lets the car fly into the corner. He’s in front, but he doesn’t make the corner.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella made a similar case, saying: “I think had Verstappen negotiated the corner, Lando should have given back the position. But, Max at the apex there’s no way he’s thinking I can do this corner.
“That’s what makes the manoeuvre not permissible and at the least this is neutral. If not, Max is disallowing the car on the outside to complete the manoeuvre because it’s not possible for the car on the outside.”
But Verstappen, who himself lost a third-place finish in Austin on the last lap in 2017 when stewards ruled he had overtaken Kimi Raikkonen off the track, replied when asked if he had any sympathy for McLaren’s position: “I don’t. I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules.
“Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.”
Wolff leads Mercedes’ complaints against Russell’s ‘inexplicable’ penalty
The Circuit of the America’s left-handed Turn 12 had already proved a hotspot for contentious incidents during the Sprint weekend.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was left incensed earlier on in the race when George Russell was hit with a five-second penalty after stewards judged he had forced Valtteri Bottas off the track while passing at the corner.
Explaining this decision, the stewards said “The Driving Standard Guidelines provide that when overtaking on the inside the driver must not force the other car off the track and must leave a fair and acceptable width for the car being overtaken.
“This did not occur on this occasion.”
Having already branded the ruling a “total joke” on team radio at the time, Wolff labelled it “completely odd and bizarre” in his Sky Sports interview after the race before cryptically adding: “I think we know why, but obviously you can’t say that on television.”
Striking a slightly more measured stance in his later press briefing with the written media, Wolff said: “I think the stewards are in a really difficult situation. There is always going to be one that’s happy and one that’s unhappy, but we need to try to understand why that has certain patterns in stewarding decisions and whether that correlates to some of the situations.
“Everyone is racing hard but for me the decision against George was inexplicable. We’ve seen plenty of these situations in Turn 12. None of these were penalised until George and then obviously there was another one afterwards but for the whole weekend until then it wasn’t.
“I don’t want to comment on the Max-Lando situation because it’s not my race, I think Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella] are going to look at that. Everybody is giving their best but…I need to hold myself back here.”
The Mercedes boss added: “I think there are great stewards. Honestly, great stewards that have either been in the racing car or have a non-biased view on situations, doing the best of their abilities of their abilities for a job that is truly difficult and we mustn’t put everyone in the same category. There are a few inconsistencies but I’m sure the president is going to look at that.”
So are F1’s overtaking rules clear and robust enough?
Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who left most of the controversy behind them to finish first and second in Sunday’s race, were asked after on Sunday evening whether F1’s rules around wheel-to-wheel racing were clear enough.
While both expressed surprise at Oscar Piastri’s time penalty for forcing Pierre Gasly off the track in the Saturday Sprint, again at Turn 12, Sainz said he felt the rules around what was and was not allowed were clear and that there was inevitably still room for occasional disagreement.
“I think some things are. Others are still a bit blurry to me, let’s put it like that.
“I think there was an example [in the Sprint] with Oscar’s overtake. That for me was completely fine and very similar to anything that we’ve done between each other on the Sprint. And I felt like the penalty on Oscar was really, really harsh and didn’t go along with some guidelines that I thought were the way they were.
“So yeah, that penalty surprised me.”
Sainz added: “I also thought it was a bit too harsh. However, on the rules, I think they are clear.
“Sometimes the interpretation of the rule can be a little bit different because it will be impossible to have a rule book that takes every single scenario. Every scenario is different, has its particularity, and you’ve got to analyse it in a different way and interpret the rules in some ways for particular scenarios, which is what the FIA is trying to do best.
“However, sometimes we disagree, and I think on the one of yesterday, it’s something that we’ll probably talk of in the next driver briefing.”
Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues next weekend with the Mexico City Grand Prix, with every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime