Austin '17

[zako85]

I recall two things from this race. First, Perez is whining on the radio like some kind of a prom queen that the team should let him pass teammate Ocon. In reality, in this race he was not good enough to either pass his teammate or defend from Sainz. Once again Perez is beaten by his teammate. Second, Max Verstappen starting from the back of field and finishing in the 3rd or 4th place (whatever), it was still pretty amazing.

[Bagwan]

I don't like it that they are allowed off track during the race at all , but most of these transgressions had drivers giving back the positions , if position was gained , as far as I saw , so , the stewarding we have been seeing is getting the point across to the drivers , and the self-policing of these situations is pretty common .

However , when the position gained is one on the podium , and one with so much weight in the championship , and , in particular , on the last lap , one needs to take extra care in deciding who was in the right .
Because of the rush of getting drivers in place for the podium , and the last moment replacement of the third place man , it all seemed like there wasn't much thought put in about it all , so the decision got an immediate "knee-jerk" feel , and the roar of "Max was robbed" rang out .

But , this time , I think they got it right because he left the track completely , and , most importantly , on the inside of the corner .
Had he been even 6 inches to the left , he would have had rubber on the track while making that pass for third .
That would have had him keep the place , despite being only two inches still on the track surface .

When they measure the width of a track , do they add double the width of the car minus , let's say , half an inch for each side to represent how much tire might actually be on track ?

[Luijbregts]

Why was sainz.JPG this not penalised then?

[Bagwan]

Why was sainz.JPG this not penalised then?

Did they bring it to the attention of the stewards ?

[Luijbregts]

Yes. It was under investigation. No further action!

[onemanband]

I think the main argument may be that Sainz finished behind Ocon - so that move had no lasting advantage.

[Luijbregts]

That is not the point at all. At that exact moment it is advantage gained. The point is consistency in handing out penalties. And what happened to letting a driver explain himself after the race to the stewards as agreed upon. Also out the window! Hamilton drove to pole with 4 wheels off track, no penalty either. Just 2 examples of gained advantages without consequences. I am just trying to say it is strange, also if the penalty is/was correct or not. I believe firmly that racing needs to be rewarded not punished.

[Jag_Warrior]

By what I've read so far, it wasn't Garry Connelly (the man whose first name starts with "G") who made the call. Did Max have evidence that it was him (this time), or did he just make that assumption based on a past penalty call? And is there some past history between Connelly and the Verstappens that we don't know about?

[Bagwan]

Fair points .

I think , in both cases where the drivers , Max and Carlos , had room enough to be classified as on track , that both should face the same punishment .
In Max's case , five seconds added made for an exchange of those positions .
In Carlos's case , the position was lost anyway , so a warning , which is essentially what an investigation ends up being in this case , should suffice .
Had he not ended up behind Ocon , I would expect him to have copped that five seconds , too .
I'd hope so , anyway .

[driveace]

Thought one of the stewards was Mika Salo ,a Finn and ex Ferrari man
Is this odd ?