In the drivers battle to win the Drivers World Championship 2021, we can certainly say that within just a few short races, they have provided us with high-speed thrills, race jitters and competition in its most excellent form. From all the race action seen in this 2021 Formula 1 season, there are certainly many more mishaps and woes to come. In particular, there are two standout events that occurred this season; where no action, penalties or consequences were implemented, which involved the Mercedes and Williams drivers. Mercedes, in the Bahrain Grand Prix 2021, encountered a few mishaps faced by their world champion Lewis Hamilton in which he ignored track limits. And George Russell, Williams’ driver faced his woes during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2021 in Italy, where he collided and crashed into Mercedes driver Valteri Bottas. In both instances, race control and stewards overlooked rules and regulations and neither of the parties involved got penalties of any kind.
Mercedes Mishaps:
The abuse of track limits is a very controversial topic in Formula 1 and unfortunately these limits were at the heart of the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in which during this season opener of the Bahrain Grand Prix where Max Verstappen had been instructed by race control and the FIA race stewards to relinquish his leading first place position in race, due to him going wide at turn 4.
This came about when at the start of the race, Verstappen started on pole, in first position and had led the pack for a few laps, right up until the first pit stops where Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes took advantage of the undercut and were able to overtake Verstappen, putting Max Verstappen in second place. (Team, 2021). As the race went on, Max was then in a position to overtake Hamilton in which he took the opportunity and succeeded and took the lead once again. However, the Red Bull Driver had been immediately ordered by race control to hand back lead position to Hamilton due to track limits infringements. Race control had said that Verstappen had gone wide at turn 4 where max had all four wheels outside of the track. In this incident, Lewis Hamilton had been warned by race control for abusing track limits and his car had been seen straying beyond track limits on the exit of turn 4 not only once but on many occasions in this race. Despite the warnings being issued to Hamilton through his pit wall and race engineers, Hamilton had continued to abused track limits on 29 individual occasions without getting any penalties. (Vora, 2021). Hamilton also abused track limits in the Friday Practice 1 where four lap times of his had been deleted (Cooper, 2021). In this instance, we can clearly see that the warnings issued to Hamilton were intentionally ignored and overseen, and that clear rules and regulations were broken by Hamilton and intentionally ignored by race control and the stewards who did not penalise Hamilton at any point of this Bahrain GP like they did to Max who lost his victory due to the same track limits infringements.
Track limits in Formula 1 according to (Jindal, 2021) are the boundaries between the racing track and runoff portion that a driver can drive on and the area beyond that they are not permitted to. Track limits are enforced to prevent drivers from getting an unfair advantage during any race or qualifying sessions. There is also usually a white line that is used to trace track limits and is always clear for the drivers to see and be aware of. These lines are along the exterior of the kerbs and chicanes. The kerbs are used to deter drivers from abusing track limits set. The cause of this controversy lies within the Formula 1’s regulations regarding track limits where there are 2 separate cases of track limits which are Section 21 and the Article 27.3. the rules here, pertaining to this incident; according to Section 21, the regulation states “A lap time achieved during any practice session by leaving the track and cutting behind the red and white kerb on the exit of turn 4, will result in that lap time being invalidated by the stewards.”. These track limits are only applicable to practice sessions and qualifying and do not apply to the race. However, the rule that is relevant to the race is Article 27.3 of the Formula 1’s Sporting Regulations which states “Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not deliberately leave the track without a justifiable reason. At the absolute discretion of the Race Director, a driver maybe given the opportunity to give back the whole of any advantage he gained by leaving the track.” (Edmondson, 2021).
According to race director Michael Masi, he had stated that all track limit regulations had been made very clear and that nothing at all had changed (Bonotto, 2021). Masi told the drivers that Turn 4 track limits would be monitored during practice and qualifying, with any lap times in which the driver strayed off track at turn 4 would be deleted but in relation to the race, it would be monitored but not in terms of lap deletion. He also stated that drivers had to adhere to the sporting regulations.
Reasons and justifications to why Hamilton and the stewards ignored these track limit regulations came down to the reason that Hamilton’s and Verstappen’s abuse of track limits were two completely different situations, in that Hamilton’s abuse of track limits was tied to Section 21 which are issued ahead of each race and deal with regulations that are specific to each track. Where as Verstappen’s abuse of track limits was linked to Article 27.3 of the Sporting Regulations about overtaking off the track and is a blanket rule that applies at every race of the season and thus was classified as a “lasting advantage” which was why they told him to give Lewis Hamilton back first place in the race. In short, these situations are similar in the sense that both Verstappen and Hamilton were both abusing track limits. However, the difference in why these rules were ignored and Verstappen was told to return the position because Verstappen’s track limits infractions were a blanket rule and he was driving along side another car, hence why it was classified as a “lasting advantage” as this was an overtake that took place off track that could have changed the outcome of the race as well as the outcome of the drivers championship, hence why they classified the same abused track limits into different categories within the regulations. Where as Hamilton’s track limit infractions were him driving alone and based on track specifications on specific tracks that were monitored in race but monitored in terms of not deleting lap times.
The World Champion did not downplay his victory and said that he “thought that there were no track limits and that he had been doing this the whole race” and went onto saying in the interview that the track limit regulations had changed within the middle of the race. While Masi had also stated that Hamilton had not complied with their interpretation of the rules, but die to Verstappen’s situation and what had been discussed he suggested to Red Bull that Verstappen relinquish his position as listed in the sporting regulations in which they did (Collantine, 2021).
This however, does not exclude the fact that that FIA handled these track limits terribly as throughput the weekend they did not keep the rules consistent as they adjusted them through the weekend which certainly was not befitting of the pinnacle of the sport.
Williams Woes
The second situation in which rules were intentionally ignored occurred at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy when George Russell who was in 10th place, decided to take on Valtteri Bottas and line up an overtake at the chicane at the start of lap 31 (Edmonson, 2021). Bottas, the skilled and experienced driver that he is complied with the FIA Regulations and left a car’s width to his right in order to give Russell the space needed to pursue his attack. Russell who was coming in aggressively crossed onto the white track limits line which marked the edge of the circuit and lost traction in his tyres from the right rear wheel, which took the Williams sideways and sent him colliding into Bottas in his Mercedes at 305.775 kilometers per hour. The two cars spun out of control and hit into a barrier. Russell blamed Bottas for the crash even though he was at fault.
In most cases, when a big crash like that happens in F1, there is an investigation done and penalties are usually placed on the drivers who are ruled and said to be at fault. For example, at the F1 Grand Prix of Sakhir, which was the season ending in 2020 Charles Leclerc was given a three place grid penalty after being ruled to be the cause of the first lap crash with Racing Point Driver Sergio Perez. (Fox, 2020) Leclerc simply misjudged his braking at turn 4, lost control collided with Perez, went off track which caused Verstappen to take action that resulted in him crashing into the barriers along with Leclerc. In this instance stewards had said Leclerc had braked too late.
However, this was not the case in this Bottas and Russell collision at the Italian Grand Prix. Despite this crash being a more serious crash in terms of the severity and damage caused; as the Mercedes car was a complete right off, the rules and regulations here were intentionally ignored by race control and stewards and classified this high speed crash as a racing incident and said that neither of the drivers were at fault, thus, neither of the drivers got a penalty, resulting in this situation becoming a big talking point.
Race control and stewards ignored the rules and regulations in this Bottas and Russell crash and took no further action as they felt that at no time did either of the drivers manoeuvre or respond erratically. They said that as Russell approached Bottas, both cars approached the kink of turn 1 and the width of the track therefore decreased, which decreased the gap between them and the right hand side of the track which resulted in the crash. They also took into consideration Russell’s car condition and track conditions. Due to Russell being in the DRS zone (drag reduction system), his DRS flap on his rear wing was open and his car had less downforce and the tyres were slick which resulted in loss of traction. They also considered track conditions which they ruled had been slightly damp.
There are specific FIA Rules that pertain to overtaking in Formula 1 (Metrics, n.d.). Two drivers battling straight line: The One Move Rule: when a driver is completely ahead of the other in a straight line, they are permitted to make a move in one direction. This move can be of any size that is within track limits and can be done in any direction and this rule is stated under Sporting Regulation 20.4: “A driver defending his position on a straight line before a breaking area may use the full width of the track during his move; provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is along side his; the driver may not leave the track without justifiable reason.” This rule can come in handy when also racing alongside another car. Another rule to note when overtaking is that weaving is not permitted and this is stated in Sport Regulations 20.3 “More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted”. 20.3 also states that “Drivers should leave at least one car width between their own car and the edge of the track on approach to a corner.” Sporting Regulations 20.5 for overtaking states that “manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge pf the track or any other abnormal change of direction are not permitted.” (Metrics, n.d.)
This scenario is similar to that of the crash caused by Leclerc in Sakhir in the sense that both drivers, Leclerc and Russell both had misjudged their situations and ended up being the causes of collisions within these Grand Prix’s. however, they are different in the sense that despite both drivers had errors, Leclerc misjudged hoi braking zone and Russell misjudged the space and width available on the track; the Russell crash was considered to be a racing incident where they considered certain conditions such as low downforce on the car, loss of traction on tyres and a slightly damp track and ignored the rules and excluded the aspect of misjudgement or the aspect of intentionally ignoring the regulations on the William’s drivers part.
Russell ignored the rules of Sporting Regulations 20.5 for overtaking states that “manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers such as deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction are not permitted.”, and also ignored regulation 20.3 which states that “drivers should leave at least one car width between their own car and the edge of the track on approach to a corner.” These were ignored because there was crowding and he did not leave one car width space when he was approaching the apex, even if he misjudged the apex, track limits or width of the track. These were also ignored by race control due to their reasoning of specific conditions mentioned.
The implications of ignoring the rules caused this crash that could have been fatal especially for Bottas as Russell crashed into him at over 305kmph and Russell’s left front tyre mounted the top on Bottas Mercedes and was only stopped from entering the cockpit due to the halo in the Mercedes, that still came under considerable force. This could have killed Bottas if that halo gave in. fortunately this was not the case but the damage to the Mercedes was drastic and was a write off. Which now puts a stretch on Mercedes finances with the cost cap, as costs for damage edges them closer to their cost cap of $145 million, which means they cannot develop as expected in 2021 season (1, 2021)
In conclusion, during these Grand Prix’s we see how rules and regulations were ignored by both drivers, stewards and race control alike. Despite that there were other situations within the sport that had similar aspects to these described above, and these similar situations had been ruled differently in which they were said to be breaking the regulations within the sport and those ruled cause of the instances were given their various penalties that race control felt were appropriate. However we have seen that with these 2 specific situations addressed in the essay, the aspects of these were handled differently and no penalties, actions or consequences were implemented. Hamilton abused track limits multiple times whereas rivalry Verstappen broke the limits once during his overtake. Further, Russell caused a serious crash and this too had no consequences for him. I do not agree with how either of these scenarios panned out. I think that regardless of the race, driver and track, if certain regulations are broken that result in negative mishaps, then I do not think that there should be an exception in this regard. I think that Russell should have gotten a penalty like Chares Leclerc did; and like many other drivers have gotten in certain races, practice or qualifying sessions. I also do not agree with how Hamilton’s track limit infractions were handled, because in my opinion, that decision was made from from a biased perspective and I certainly think it was very undeserving and unfair on Verstappen to have to give up his position for a driver who made many of infractions on more than on occasion in the same race, as well as in a practice session. Especially with Hamilton’s time in F1, his experience and success; he should definitely should know the rules and regulations and should be setting the right example for the younger drivers like Verstappen. Thus, I see no room for any excuses on how the situation was managed. Despite my opinions, at the end of the day, I am sure that the race control and stewards made the right calls and did what was right in regards to their regulations and did what they saw fit.
Nonetheless, in order to keep this sport top class and at its pinnacle all drivers need to treated the same regardless of experience, team and constructors.
References:
1, F. (2021, April 22). Crash with Russell and Bottas. Retrieved from www.formula1.com
Bonotto, L. (2021, April 15). Verstappen to Raise Track Limits Issue. Retrieved from www.formula1.com
Collantine, K. (2021, March 28). Track Limit Policies. Retrieved from www.racefans.net
Cooper, A. (2021, March 29). How F1 Track Limits Became the Talk of the Bharain GP. Retrieved from Autosport: www.autosport.com
Edmondson, L. (2021, March 29). F1 Track Limits Confusion Explained. Retrieved from www.espn.com
Edmonson, L. (2021, April 19). Analysis On Bottas Russell Crash. Retrieved from www.espn.com
Fox, P. (2020, December 7). Charles Leclerc Given Grid Penalty for Causing Sakhir GP Crash. Retrieved from www.news24.com
Jindal, S. (2021, May 8). Track Limit Violations. Retrieved from The Sports Rush: www.thesportsrush.com
Metrics, F. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.f1metrics.wordpress.com
Team, T. R. (2021, March 28). Was Race Controls Verstappen, Hamilton Call Right. Retrieved from www.the-race.com
Vora, V. (2021, March 30). How Track Limits Stole The Limelight in Bahrain. Retrieved from www.sportskeeda.com
Comments