Toto Wolff gets his wish as FIA change rules after Verstappen avoided punishment
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Mercedes chief Toto Wolff’s pleas appear to have been answered after the FIA introduced an immediate rule change as a result of Max Verstappen’s antics. Wolff called for the governing body to hold a meeting involving drivers and sporting directors to discuss unnecessary stopping in the pit lane, but it appears that they have gone one step further.
Verstappen was investigated at the Mexican Grand Prix for slowing down in the pit lane during qualifying, delaying those behind him from getting out on the track to set a lap time. Such issues forced race director Niels Wittich to implement a maximum lap time earlier in the year, but it did not do enough to solve the problem according to Wolff.
“I think the FIA needs to sit down with the drivers and Sporting Directors and ask what exactly we want to achieve,” the Mercedes boss said. “In the end, fundamentally we don’t want any impeding at all, we don’t want anybody stuck in the pit lane.
“So how can we achieve that? I understand it is better to be stationary in the pit lane than to block someone out there [on track] but it still looks awkward. It is not right because some people may not make the lap.”
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Now it appears that the FIA have listened to Wolff, by introducing a new rule that punishes drivers from unnecessarily stopping in the ‘fast lane’ during qualifying. This will come into effect during Friday’s qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
“As per article 33.4 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, drivers are not allowed to go unnecessarily slow, that includes stopping a car in the fast lane of the pit lane,” said the new addition to regulations, clarified in a document by race director Wittich. “During Shootout and Qualifying, drivers may create a gap between the pit exit lights and the SC2 line. Any driver who wishes to do so must drive as far to the left as possible to allow other drivers to pass them on the right side of the pit exit road.”
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Mercedes’ George Russell along with Fernando Alonso were also called to the stewards over alleged breaches of the now-outlawed rule. The Silver Arrows had also been punished for failing plank inspections in the United States, which saw Lewis Hamilton disqualified after finishing in second place.
Russell fears that a similar issue to affect teams in Brazil this weekend. “It’s going to be really challenging,” Russell admitted. “And this is a big, big issue with the sprint race weekends because, as we said in Austin, we ended practice, we did our checks and there was no plank wear and we thought we were in the clear.
“I’ve got to be honest, on a track like this some teams might find themselves in the same place, So that’s just part of a game in a sprint race.”
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