Max Verstappen already had time to complete the evening program during qualifying, as he had to appear at the commissioners on three occasions. In all of them, the FIA investigated whether he acted against the rules when blocking opponents. In the end, the Dutchman escaped with only two reprimands. He also successfully avoided punishment in the form of loss of places thanks to two decisions that raise questions.
For Red Bull, qualification was a complete disaster even without Max Verstappen’s three interrogations. The defending champion was already eliminated in the second part of the qualification and was threatened with another drop for blocking opponents three times. However, he openly admitted to journalists that he didn’t care if he would start “eleventh, fifteenth or last”. However, the Red Bull family obviously didn’t like it that much.
One incident occurred between Max Verstappen and Júki Cunoda, who complained about the behavior of the Red Bull unit. However, as we can read from the verdict in this case, the representative of the AlphaTauri team unusually decided not to participate in the hearing. Something like this is a great rarity in the world of F1. And why would he bother there, when he didn’t even want to argue against his own employer…
If Verstappen had similarly blocked another driver and he had crashed out early in qualifying, we could be sure that he would have sought a penalty for his opponent. However, the commissioners only dealt with Max Verstappen and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley in this way.
In this case, the stewards only gave Max Verstappen a warning for blocking Jūki Cunoda, as Red Bull did not inform his driver about the approaching AlphaTauri driver. The team will have to pay a fine of 5,000 euros for their misconduct.
But is that enough? If the representative of the opposing party was also present at the hearing, perhaps he would argue that such a punishment is not consistent with past cases. For example, he could draw the verdict of the commissioners from the qualification for the Monaco Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc then lost three places, although the commissioners stated a mitigating circumstance in the verdict: The team did not inform him about the approaching Lando Norris.
“The commissioners believe that Leclerc could have done enough before the tunnel to prevent the blockage if the team had warned him in time,” the commissioners wrote at the time. But what is even more important: “The commissioners reviewed all previous penalties for unforced blocking of opponents from the past few years. In each case, the team’s action or inaction did nothing to mitigate the ruling that it was an unforced block. That’s why the commissioners impose the standard penalty of losing three rungs.”
The commissioners said that they were looking for similarly serious offenses from this season when passing the sentence, while they certainly should not take as a mitigating circumstance the fact that Verstappen did not know about the car in the back. So what has changed since the VC of Monaco? For example, four names signed under the decision in the “commissioners” column.
The verdict from VC Monaco, in which the commissioners do not take as a mitigating circumstance the fact that the team did not inform Charles Leclerc about the approaching Lando Norris.
Charles Leclerc also came up short at this year’s Austrian Grand Prix. Even in this case, the commissioners did not take into account Ferrari’s lazy radio, which informed him about Oscar Piastri late. “We have decided that although it was not entirely the driver’s fault and the team’s lack of communication contributed significantly to this, it is necessary to award a place penalty as Oscar Piastri was unforcedly blocked as there is no doubt that the situation could have been avoided.”
Is standing in the pit lane now allowed?
We haven’t seen anything like this in a long time. In the second part of qualifying, Max Verstappen decided to stop and wait at the end of the pit lane despite the fact that the traffic light was green. He skillfully stood there for fourteen seconds, during which a fairly long line of single-seaters began to form behind him.
This is how the Dutchman tried to create a distance from the cars in front of him. According to the sports director, in the end it didn’t matter anyway, because already in the fifth corner he caught up with the single-seaters, who decided for a slow exit lap.
“And while the driver did not gain any obvious advantage by waiting an unusually long time at the end of the pit lane, the potential for this act to negatively affect other drivers warrants a penalty.” stands in the opinion of the four formula judges. “And while we note that the cars behind could have overtaken Verstappen, it is more appropriate if the cars come out of the pits behind each other.”
So what punishment did this act deserve? According to the commissioners, admonition. However, we can easily imagine what a dangerous precedent they have just set.
Imagine the situation with the last two minutes remaining after the red flag before the checkered flag in Q3. The provisional pole position holder will be the first to arrive at the end of the pit lane and will simply remain standing after the green light. If other cars are lined up behind him, it is highly likely that they will no longer have room to go around the standing opponent. By failing to cross the finish line before the checkered flag, they also lose the chance to improve their times and overtake the provisional leader. It pays to be warned!
You will say that if something like this happened, the commissioners would surely give a severe punishment to the offender. It is therefore a mystery why they did not do it today.
When making decisions, the FIA refers to the principle according to which it examines only the incident itself, not its impact on later situations. So if you block someone and they are eliminated in Q1 because of it, the penalty should be the same as if you block someone and it has no material impact on their final result. According to this principle, the commissaires should not look at whether a cunning pilot, by stopping his car at the end of the pit lane, frustrated the attempts of others.
The example is only illustrative and it must be recognized that in such a case the commissioners would certainly reach for a different punishment; after a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. However, the situation may not be so clear-cut if the conclusion of the qualification is more complicated. It is enough to repeat today’s situation before the end of Q3, where it would be very difficult to argue that Verstappen tried to thwart the attempts of others. He was just trying to create a distance from the cars in front of him.
Scrum in the third sector
The commissioners can hardly be faulted for the final verdict. Max Verstappen was not punished in any way for allegedly blocking Logan Sargeant, because he was in a ball of several single-seaters. Some were overtaking him from the left, others from the right, so the Dutchman decided to remain as legible as possible and not change direction. The commissioners accepted this explanation.
He was also accepted by Logan Sargeant, who does not blame the Red Bull pilot for the incident.
2023-09-16 18:36:11
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