Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hits out at Formula 1 for ‘extremely dangerous’ decision

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Max Verstappen has hit out at Formula 1 for implementing an ‘extremely dangerous’ rule trying to prevent impeding in qualifying that has bewildered the Red Bull driver.

Impeding has been a major issue in Formula 1 this season and has tempted the series to try various solutions. F1 ramped up its efforts to solve the issue in qualifying since the summer break, too, after seeing several drivers dawdle attempting to create a gap to the car in front.

Following the car in front too closely can be costly, especially during qualifying, owing to the dirty air created. But drivers, including Verstappen, have risked penalties for impeding whilst trying to open a gap. The Red Bull driver has often played jump rope with the different rules.

Verstappen has drawn investigations for impeding in qualifying

Verstappen escaped a penalty for impeding in qualifying for the Singapore GP, despite being investigated for three incidents. He held Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton back after stopping at the end of the pit lane before also blocking William’s Logan Sargeant in Q1.

The three-time F1 champion pulled up at the end of the pit lane for 14 seconds to extend a gap. He also blocked AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in Q2 but escaped a penalty after moving off the racing line at the last second. Verstappen also escaped a penalty for impeding in Mexico.

Verstappen was among several drivers investigated for impeding in qualifying for the Mexico City GP. He, Russell and Fernando Alonso all backed off exiting the pits to create a gap in Q1 and impeded others. But Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin argued against all penalties.

Those teams successfully defended their drivers in Mexico by arguing their actions stemmed from the maximum delta time rule. That rule was aimed at preventing drivers from crawling around the circuit by regulating their time spent between the pit exit and pit entrance lines.

Verstappen feels Formula 1’s latest rule change is ‘dangerous’

Formula 1 tweaked the rule again in Brazil and stipulated that drivers must let others pass in the pit exit if they are not driving at full speed. Verstappen used the rule change to overtake several cars throughout the Sao Paulo GP weekend. But others, like Russell, drew penalties.

Russell, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly all received two-place grid penalties at the Sao Paolo GP for impeding in qualifying. Russell drew his penalty for impeding Gasly in Q1 after rolling out of the pits and not abiding by the latest rule change that Verstappen believes is unsafe.

Verstappen said, via RaceFans, about the rule change on impeding: “On this track, you have quite a long pit exit and there are some walls.

“But on some other tracks, if we implement this, you’re driving very slowly onto a straight where people are passing at 300 kph-plus and you are maybe driving 15, 20 [kph] to make a gap, which is I think extremely dangerous.

“So, for me, this doesn’t work at all. It just creates even more trouble.” The Red Bull driver continued: “It’s just a mess. Every single qualifying, you have six to eight cars getting noted for driving too slow with the [maximum] time. I don’t know what we’re trying to achieve.”