FIA abandons Verstappen rule during braking phases

Last year, Max Verstappen made headlines more than once with very aggressive defending, provoking the anger of many drivers, starting with those from Ferrari who felt unfairly blocked by the young driver. Kimi Räikkönen, in particular, did not hide his anger during the Belgian Grand Prix after being blocked on the straight by the Red Bull driver. This incident followed a similar clash between the two drivers in Budapest.

On the occasion of the United States Grand Prix, the FIA announced that it now prohibited drivers from changing direction during the braking phase. However, this had the indirect consequence of penalizing Sebastian Vettel at the end of the Mexican Grand Prix, after a stunning defense against Daniel Ricciardo while the Ferrari driver was sandwiched between the two Red Bull drivers.

Charlie Whitting therefore announced in the Melbourne paddock that the famous “Verstappen rule” was now abandoned: I think there would be slight differences compared to some incidents last year. They would be handled differently simply because the rule called the “Verstappen rule” has been abandoned. Previously, we said that any movement while braking would be investigated. Now, we have a simple rule that a driver will only be investigated if he moves erratically, or if he goes too slowly, or if he endangers another driver. The rule is therefore much broader now.

But the new organization still has progress to make in terms of communication, especially towards teams and drivers, as the drivers learned of this regulatory change during a press conference. Daniel Ricciardo welcomed this change, which gives more freedom to the drivers: « Are they going to tell us tomorrow? You know everything before us! The good thing is that there will be fewer decisions to make on track. If they let us decide, the good thing is that we will settle it on the track. Hopefully, we can have compensation if we feel that something didn’t go our way. I like being able to fight. It’s a good thing. »

But as a result, this prompted Sebastian Vettel to ask to retrieve his Mexico trophy, lost to his former teammate. Which the Australian has no intention of doing anytime soon…