Lewis Hamilton believes “grey areas” in F1’s rules mean Max Verstappen has “got away with it for so long” when defending position on the track, as drivers prepare to meet on Friday to discuss the Dutchman’s United States GP incident with Lando Norris.
Thursday’s media day ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix was dominated by debate around the lap-52 incident in last Sunday’s race in the USA which saw Norris handed a podium-losing time penalty for an overtake on title rival Verstappen after a late-race battle over third place.
McLaren have since launched a right of review challenge in a bid to overturn the decision with an initial hearing set for 9.30pm UK time on Friday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
With F1’s overtaking guidelines, as well as the consistency of stewards’ decisions and penalties after several other controversial incidents during the Austin weekend, under the spotlight, seven-time world champion Hamilton said the sport needed to “level up on all areas” of officiating – and suggested that his old title rival’s approach to defending position should not be allowed.
“It’s always been a grey area,” said Hamilton. “That’s why he’s got away with it for so long.
“They probably need to make some adjustments, for sure. Also, you do have inconsistencies on rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which stewards are there.
“As a sport, we do need to level up on all areas. You look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.
“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.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton drew a direct parallel between last Sunday’s controversy and his fierce wheel-to-wheel duels with Verstappen during their 2021 title fight – and that year’s Brazilian race in particular.
“It’s interesting people are talking about it now because the same thing happened to me in 2021,” said Hamilton.
“If you take Brazil into account, for example, under braking you’re ahead but then the car [on the inside] just comes off the brakes and doesn’t make the corner and you have to go wide. Then they’ll say you both went wide but you had no choice because you had to avoid a collision.
“There definitely has to be something done about it because it’s happening a lot now. You shouldn’t be able to come off the brakes, run more speed in, go off track and still hold your place.”
Verstappen: ‘I always try to make the corner’
The stewards in Austin ruled that Norris had “lost the right” to an overtake into the Turn 12 corner as he did not satisfy the aspect of F1’s overtaking guidelines, which state that a car overtaking on the outside, as the McLaren was, must “have the front axle at least alongside with the front axle of the other car at the apex of the corner and to the exit”.
Both drivers subsequently went wide off the track on the corner exit but Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage” as he returned on to it ahead of the Red Bull in a gain of position.
Speaking in Mexico on Thursday, Norris reiterated his view that it had been Verstappen who had actually been in the wrong, stating: “I think the fact of getting off your brakes to achieve just the ruling of being ahead at apex no matter how wide you run on the exit, is incorrect and I don’t think that’s how racing should be.”
Verstappen, however, has denied suggestions he was gaming the rulebook.
“It’s quite impressive that people can read my mind,” said the Dutchman, who leads Norris by 57 points in the world championship.
“I always try to make the corner. I didn’t want to look for a shortcut.
“I don’t even know what to answer to these people.”
Drivers to discuss controversy and stewards’ decisions on Friday
Mercedes’ George Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said the grid’s 20 drivers would be discussing the Verstappen-Norris incident and the various views around that and other recent controversies in a pre-planned meeting in Mexico on Friday evening following their regular drivers’ briefing with the FIA race director.
“Between the drivers, we are going to have a sit down after the drivers’ briefing anyway,” said Russell.
“That was actually planned prior to the Austin weekend. And of course, there’s a lot going on at the moment, especially with the swearing situation [that Verstappen was punished for at the Singapore GP].
“I guess, between us, we’ll talk with the FIA and understand their viewpoint first, and then we can judge.”
While Russell said F1’s stewards had a difficult job to do, he too wondered whether permanent officials would improve consistency in decision making.
“At the end of the day, the stewards are doing the best job they can,” he added. “They’re trying their hardest.
“They do have a set of guidelines of which they followed. But maybe we need…we’ve spoken about consistency in the past. The only way you’re going to have consistency is if you have the same stewards at every single race weekend.
“At the moment, they are very experienced, but they are here as almost volunteers. It is not a professionally paid job. If you look at football as an example, even though there’s still controversy, referees are professionals and that is their full-time job, that’s where they make their income. And as the sport we are at the moment, that’s probably the direction we should be heading.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Russell said of the drivers’ role in shaping the rules of engagement in racing: “We definitely very much can get involved and we’ve always been asked for our views and our opinions.
“You can never look at every single possible scenario otherwise you’re going to have a set of regulations that are 100 pages long. You need to live and learn through these experiences. I think broadly speaking the regulations are fine. Maybe there needs to be a small tweak here and there.
“But my personal view is that if there was a gravel trap on the exit of that corner, or grass, or something, neither driver goes there and we’re not having this discussion, and this has been the case for many years now.”
Do F1’s racing rules need to be revised? The drivers have their say…
Pierre Gasly, Alpine: “I think Austin highlighted that there is definitely something that’s got to be changed. There is the rule as it’s written and there is more the common sense on how you want to approach racing.
“There is this grey area at the moment which allow us drivers to benefit from the regulation in a kind of unfair way of approaching racing. And I think this is something which I guess we all agree and which will be worked on with the FIA on how to improve things because there have been a couple of incidents which got us on a split or with mixed feelings on the decision that came out of it. We all need some clarity and a bit better written rules to improve the racing for the future.
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas: “I think it’s also a bit track dependent and obviously Austin is, you know, particularly Turn 12 is always, every year it’s one of the hot spots where it happens easily and a lot. I don’t know. I mean, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s part of racing and we’ll see going forward what we come up with.”
Sergio Perez, Red Bull: “I think Austin is really the worst for it in terms of track layout. Turn 1, Turn 12, even Turn 11 can be quite difficult in that regard. So yeah, it can go in your favour or against you. And I think here, for example, it won’t be an issue.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: “Max has always been on the limit of regulations, but that’s what makes racing Max so exciting. And that’s also why I really like having those fights with him, is that you know that he will never let any room to you, and it will be always at the limit of the regulations.
“And that’s what makes those fights very exciting. Having said that, I feel like there are a few things maybe in Austin that I have seen that we maybe have to discuss with the FIA because I feel like the penalties were sometimes a little bit too harsh and we’ve got to make sure that we are all aligned, the FIA and us drivers, in order to make sure that it’s clear what we can do and what we cannot do.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Mexico City GP schedule
Friday October 25
7pm: Mexico City GP Practice One (session starts at 7.30pm)
9pm: The F1 Show
10.45pm: Mexico City GP Practice Two (session starts at 11pm)*
Saturday October 26
6.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
9pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying*
Sunday October 27
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Race build-up on Sunday from 7.30pm)
Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues this 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