The risk of unintended consequences

Posted by poch1991@jourrapide.com on September 10th, 2019

Verstappen got away with a dubious race-winning move on Leclerc back in Austria and it has set a new precedent for forcing drivers off the road on the outside on the exit of the corner. But in many ways Verstappen's case was easier to defend than this one from Leclerc.

Because Leclerc was given only a warning, it would appear drivers are now allowed to force each other off on the outside before a corner as well.

If that's the case, there is a serious risk that the days of an overtake around the outside are well and truly over, unless a car is pretty much fully ahead before actually getting to the corner.

Masi then went on to explain a further reason Verstappen might have been penalised last year and Leclerc not this year was because last year there was contact and this year there wasn't.

On the face of it, that makes some sense. But in reality there was only no contact this time because Hamilton took better evasive action than Bottas did in his position last year.

In fact, Bottas actually had more space than Hamilton did last year; he just didn't budge and the incident ended in light contact.

Which leads me on to the next problematic situation - drivers might go looking for a bit of contact on the outside, just to prove to the FIA the absolute obvious, and thus get a penalty for the aggressor who is clearly contravening the rules.

worldsportscafe.com