Formula One race director Niels Wittich has cracked down on Max Verstappen’s unusual habit of pulling alongside his rivals during safety car restarts by clarifying the procedures for drivers to follow before the green flags are waved. Verstappen has often been spotted moving alongside the leading car in an attempt to unsettle the driver before the races are resumed and is regularly criticised for pulling off the move out of his eagerness to get going.
The 24-year-old pulled up next to Charles Leclerc at last month’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after doing the same at the season-opening race in Bahrain and with Lewis Hamilton in last year’s title decider in Saudi Arabia. However, the FIA and Wittich have moved to rule out the controversial tactic ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix by reminding all 20 drivers of the accepted positioning of cars for a safety car restart in the race director’s notes.
“In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the Safety Car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart,” states an addendum to the notes.
A diagram was also included in the notes to illustrate in no uncertain terms what is and is not permitted during race restarts. It shows that following drivers are not allowed to come further forward than in line with the most rearward part of the car in front, effectively ruling out Verstappen’s tactic of pulling alongside the race leader before the flags go green.
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The Red Bull man will seemingly be forced to change his ways when Sunday’s race gets underway on the streets of Melbourne in order to avoid being penalised as he aims to clinch his second Grand Prix victory in as many races. BBC analyst Jolyon Palmer insisted in Saudi Arabia that Verstappen’s unique habit is often a nightmare for his fellow drivers while running the rule over his battle with Leclerc under the lights in Jeddah.
“What he’s doing is he’s stopping Charles from opening up the corner,” explained Palmer. “Charles wants to be heading in that direction on the outside so he can swing into the left-hander that’s coming up and get the most speed through the corner.
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“But because Max is alongside, he’s going to have a much better reaction time because there’s less distance that he can lose, he has a nice view of when Leclerc is going as well and he’s stopping Leclerc from getting to that outside line that he is wanting.
“Max doing his little weaving, Charles is accelerating and braking on the throttle and brakes all to try and get the tyre temps up. But the whole way through this, Max is just sitting there alongside.
“He doesn’t overtake, he’s just sitting there, just being an absolute nuisance for the race leader.”
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