The Dutch Grand Prix stewards’ decision to reverse their penalty call against Carlos Sainz Jnr was a surprise, but undoubtedly correct.
Although they could not reverse a 10-second time penalty which should never have been given, they could at least erase his two penalty points so no lasting damage was done.
More importantly for the competition, they have clarified the recently-established guidelines which are intended to ensure fair racing when a driver attempts to overtake a rival on the outside.
The guidelines were revised at the end of last year following a series of skirmishes between championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. In consecutive races at the Circuit of the Americas and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Verstappen wielded his right to force Norris off on the outside of corners to prevent him overtaking, even when his rival had passed him as they approached the turns.
Williams had to satisfy the stewards that they had a new and significant piece of evidence, relevant to their driver’s collision with Liam Lawson, which was not available when the stewards took their original decision. Of the material the team submitted, the stewards accepted that previously unpublished video footage from Lawson’s car met the criteria.
Many past attempts to overturn stewards’ decisions have failed to meet this initial test (including McLaren’s objection to Norris’s penalty in Austin). It was particularly striking that the forward-facing onboard footage from Lawson’s car was considered significant.
This, the stewards ruled, revealed that Lawson experienced “a momentary loss of control” prior to the collision with Sainz. They therefore “agree with Williams’ characterisation of the collision as a racing incident” for which neither driver was predominantly to blame.
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In the eyes of many, this was clearly a racing incident even without the extra evidence obtained from Lawson’s car. Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane wildly overstated their case by accusing Sainz of ‘crashing into’ Lawson.
Before it was overturned, the original decision threatened to set a terrible precedent, where any driver attempting a move on the outside of a corner could automatically be held responsible for any contact. If the Dutch Grand Prix stewards felt they needed the cover of some convenient new evidence to correct that, it seems churlish to complain.
But the quartet which made the original call and then changed it – Nish Shetty, Matthew Selley, Natalie Corsmit and driver Pedro Lamy – could have gone the other way. Four of their predecessors did during one of many flashpoints during the 2021 title fight.
Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian round but Mercedes were dismayed the stewards did not investigate when Verstappen went off the track in his bid to keep his rival behind. Hamilton passed the Red Bull driver on the outside as they approached Descida do Lago, but Verstappen plunged deep into the braking zone, running off the circuit and forcing Hamilton to do the same.
This was the same scenario which occured between Verstappen and Norris at Austin last year, except that Hamilton had the wisdom not to go past his rival, knowing he would incur a penalty. Nonetheless Mercedes felt Verstappen had crossed a line and petitioned the stewards to review the decision.
Just like Williams, Mercedes proffered new video footage from Verstappen’s car which had not been available during the race. But this group of stewards (including none of the four from Zandvoort) declined to reconsider their widely-criticised decision.
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This was a missed opportunity which set a poor precedent. No doubt Mercedes’ primary motivation for the review request was to trigger a penalty for Verstappen but team principal Toto Wolff correctly predicted the negative effect it would have on racing. “If it stays that way, that means overtaking from the outside is pretty much not possible anymore because the inside controls the corner completely,” he noted.
Last year’s incidents between Verstappen and Norris resulted from the stewards’ failure to establish a better standard of racing when they had the chance. It was finally addressed in the guidelines which were introduced at the start of the year. Had the stewards at Interlagos four years ago been as ready to correct their mistake, several controversies during the intervening period could have been avoided.
Verstappen can hardly be faulted for taking advantage of flimsy rules and pusillanimous stewarding. That’s part of his job and the same goes for the 19 other drivers on the grid who routinely test the limits of the rule book.
The F1 driving standards guidelines were developed as a result of the controversies of 2021 and their publication earlier this year has given valuable new insight into how stewards are expected to enforce fair racing. Of course that isn’t going to make them immune to mistakes, but if they’re more willing to correct them than they used to be, that is also a step in the right direction.
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