22/10/2016
NEWS STORY
In the wake of a number of recent incidents the FIA has clarified rules on defence tactics.
While Max Verstappen's tactics in Belgium are a distant memory, his defence of second position in Japan is not, and while Mercedes withdrew its protest against the driver, on arrival in Austin a number of drivers expressed their concern at the Red Bull driver’s tactics.
Consequently, today Charlie Whiting issued a directive in terms of how drivers may defend their position, warning that moving under braking will be punished.
"Article 27.5 of the Sporting Regulations states that "... no car may be driven... in a manner which could be potentially dangerous to other drivers... "," he said in revised event notes sent to all the teams following FP3, "furthermore, Article 27.8 prohibits any manoeuvre "... liable to hinder other drivers, such as... any abnormal change of direction".
"With this in mind, and with the exception of any move permitted by Article 27.6," he continued, "any change of direction under braking which results in another driver having to take evasive action will be considered abnormal and hence potentially dangerous to other drivers. Any such move will be reported to the stewards."
Race stewards would have the right to impose the penalty of their choice should the rule be breached, and this could include anything from a time penalty to disqualification.
At the same time, in the wake of the recent flurry of 'blue flag incidents, Whiting added:
"Article 27.9 of the Sporting Regulations requires drivers who are caught by another car about to lap him to allow the faster driver past at the first available opportunity.
"The F1 Marshalling System (F1MS) has been developed in order to ensure that the point at which a driver is shown blue flags is consistent, rather than trusting the ability of marshals to identify situations that require blue flags. Whilst this has been largely successful the way in which teams and drivers use the system seems to have become inconsistent.
"From now onwards the system will be set to give a pre-warning when the faster car is within 3.0s of the car about to be lapped, this should be used by the team of the slower car to warn their driver he is soon going to be lapped and that allowing the faster car through should be considered a priority. When the faster car is within 1.0s of the car about to be lapped blue flags will be shown to the slower car (in addition to blue cockpit lights and a message on the timing monitors) and the driver must allow the following driver to overtake at the first available opportunity.
"It should be noted that the aim of using F1MS is ensure consistent application of the rules, additional instructions may also be given by race control when necessary.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Austin, here.