After the recent controversy at the Mexican Grand Prix, the CEO of Mercedes has demanded change.
Toto Wolff, the principal of the Mercedes team, has requested a meeting with the FIA following confusion during the Mexican Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was one of the drivers who escaped penalty after slowing down in the pits during qualifying, which prevented the drivers behind him from setting a faster lap time.
Race director Niels Wittich had to impose a maximum lap time earlier this season due to traffic congestion in qualifying, with the intention of discouraging drivers from dragging themselves around the last few corners to lag behind the leaders.
The F1 stars still need clear air to set their flying lap time, despite the new requirement. Verstappen therefore stopped at the head of the pit-lane line until a space opened up, rather than reducing his speed while still on the racetrack in Mexico.
The rivals lining up behind him became confused by the Dutchman’s antics and were unable to pass through and continue their sessions, but stewards’ investigation ultimately produced no charges.
“The minimum lap time between SC2 and SC1, which is designed (correctly, in our opinion) to avoid dangerous backing-up of cars on the circuit during qualifying,” the stewards stated in their statement, “considers that the entire set of incidents occurred as a direct result.”
“We observe that drivers are subject to conflicting requirements: they are expected to adhere to the minimum time, maintain a reasonable distance from cars ahead of them, and refrain from stopping at the pit exit or driving excessively slowly.”
Despite Mercedes star George Russell also escaping punishment for a similar incident in Mexico, team principal Wolff feels that something should be done. “I think the FIA needs to sit down with the drivers and Sporting Directors and ask what exactly we want to achieve,” he said.
“In the end, fundamentally we don’t want any impeding at all, we don’t want anybody stuck in the pit lane. So how can we achieve that? I understand it is better to be stationary in the pit lane than to block someone out there [on track] but it still looks awkward. It is not right because some people may not make the lap.”
Mercedes struggled to make their mark in qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton taking P6 and Russell two behind. Eyebrows were raised when even AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo pipped the two Silver Arrows stars, who are still chasing a first Grand Prix win of the season.
Despite Hamilton’s best efforts, it didn’t come at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Verstappen once again dominating the rest of the field to win by almost 14 seconds.
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