It’s time for better racing guidelines and review procedures in F1
Formula 1 and the FIA now have plenty of material in the wake of the United States Grand Prix to review its racing guidelines “in the interest of the sport”, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
McLaren failed in its submission of a right of review over the five-second penalty given to Lando Norris, as the FIA upheld its opinion that Norris passed Max Verstappen off-track at Turn 12 on lap 52.
Stella and McLaren believe that Norris had already completed the move on the run to Turn 12 and that Verstappen – in their eyes, now the aggressor – had pushed Norris off the road.
Following the FIA’s decision to deny the right of review, although noting that the “high bar” set out in the right of review regulations was more suited to decisions made with team representatives present, Stella believes that it is now the time to “make a step forward” with the current guidelines.
“We have already made our observations that the guidelines for these driving manoeuvres need review,” Stella said. “This was mainly, I would say, after some of the episodes in Austria already, then I think in Austin definitely.
“We have suggested, either with the right of review or straight after the race in our comments in Austin, that we think the interpretation of the racing between Lando and Max was really unnecessarily at the disadvantage of Lando.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“For us as a team, we leave it to the leadership of the FIA. We have always been respectful, constructive, collaborative with the FIA, we are ready to keep doing that.
“I think the drivers as well have had the chance to express their opinion, and they all agree that there’s quite a bit of work to do. And I think they have also given their opinion on the episode that happened in Austin.
“There’s a lot of material. There’s a lot of information. I think it’s now the time to process this information and take a step forward in the interest of the sport.”
In the aftermath of the race, Stella initially said that the team would accept the decision – but the grey area in interpreting the position of the cars on track meant that McLaren felt it needed to press on with a right-of-review submission.
He explained that McLaren still disagreed with the FIA’s interpretation of the incident, and of its application of “new, significant, and relevant” information, but welcomed the swift resolution from the governing body.
“In terms of my comments straight after the race, related to the fact that we wouldn’t have proceeded with a right of review, they were based on what I knew at the time.
“But after we read the decision, it became very clear that there was an element in the decision, which was an element also in relation to what is required by the International Sporting Code to be a new, relevant, significant element to make the petition successful.
“Reading the decision, it was very clear that that the decision included an objective, measurable, provable error, which was the element that we wanted to consider as this required new, relevant and significant element.
“We disagreed with the interpretation of the stewards that this element wouldn’t be significant, relevant and new – we thought that was actually the case.
“But we remain thankful to the stewards for having considered the matter very rapidly, quickly, and we keep our as usual, our constructive, supportive approach.”
