FEATURE
Which entails blocking a driver after the
attacking driver commits to a move. Several
drivers point to the dangers of both tactics and
even consider such moves to be dirty.
Verstappen has been in the spotlight for his
robust battles with Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen
at the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix and
with more recently with Mercedes driver Lewis
Hamilton at the Japanese Grand Prix.
BBC report that FIA race director Charlie
Whiting has been confronted about the issue a
number of times this season. His initial response
was that Verstappen was driving on the edge but
just within the bounds of acceptability.
Furthermore Verstappen has twice in recent
races been taken aside by Whiting and warned
to be careful about how he drives in such
situations.
Whiting has now been forced to act and
the new ruling is predicated on article 27.5 of
the sporting regulations which states that “no
car may be driven in a manner which could be
potentially dangerous to other drivers” and article
27.8, which prohibits any manoeuvre “liable
to hinder other drivers, such as any abnormal
change of direction”.
In Austin drivers and teams have been
reminded of article 27.6 which states: “More than
one change of direction to defend a position is
not permitted. Any driver moving back towards
the racing line, having earlier defended his
position off-line, should leave at least one car
width between his own car and the edge of the
track on the approach to the corner.”
The regulation tweak is already being
referred to as the “Verstappen Rule” in the F1
paddock.