"Bulls**t": Verstappen Reacts To Alleged Breach Of Rules During Qualification
F1Sunday, 29 October 2023 at 13:00
Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen commented on the alleged impeding of other cars during Qualifying at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
F1 cars used to queue up before the last turn of various tracks during qualifying sessions, waiting to start their flying laps. Multiple drivers raised concerns about this being too dangerous.
At Circuits like Spa Francorchamps, where drivers approach the last corner at very high speeds, it has been dangerous to avoid very slowly going cars that were queueing up.
The new rule has, therefore, been introduced by FIA, which defines a minimum lap time for drivers once they enter a track, which prevents them from waiting before the last corner.
While the situation in the last corner has been solved and drivers can feel safer, the queue moved to the end of the pitlane. During the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying, viewers could often see F1 cars stacked at the end of the pitlane.
The issue is that drivers still want a gap between themselves and the driver in front of them to have that perfect time window for their own lap.
Consequently, each time a car exits the pit lane, the car that is supposed to follow has to wait around six seconds to both have enough space on track and comply with rules for minimum lap time.
Max Verstappen has been investigated for impeding other cars while waiting at the end of the pit lane during the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix Qualification. During the post-qualifying press conference, he told the media, as quoted by RacingNews365:
"Bulls**t. They create it themselves with that new rule. Everyone is trying to create space for themselves. I saw that behind me, someone was overtaking five cars in the pits at once, and the person wanted to overtake me too, whereas when I exited, I wanted to create my own gap."
The Dutchman was surprised at stewards decision to investigate his actions. He said everybody does the same think and consequently, everybody should be investigated if they are serious.
"But everyone does this, so I'm surprised that... well, I'm just surprised. I think everyone should be held accountable for driving in each other's way because with this new rule, everyone drives slowly in the pit lane. So I don't think I did anything strange or wrong."
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