Max Verstappen hits out at ‘overregulation’ in F1 for on-track clashes
Max Verstappen slammed the FIA's handling of penalties for on-track incidents during a controversial 2024 season.
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Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
The 2024 F1 season witnessed quite a few controversies on and off-track. Drivers, including Max Verstappen were not happy with the FIA’s handling of racing incidents. Now, the Dutch driver has doubled down on his stance.
Verstappen had his fair share of clashes last season, particularly with Lando Norris. The four-time world champion faced a few penalties by race control which did not please the 27-year-old. Though, Norris too was penalized on some occasions.
Max Verstappen made it clear that the stewards were overregulating racing. The Red Bull star pointed out that the rule book has kept getting bigger over the years. Verstappen emphasized that in his view, such an approach was not good for the sport. He admitted that the situation was not straightforward, especially on how much seconds of a penalty would be imposed on a driver.
Do I think it’s over-regulated? Probably yes. I mean, in general, the rule book is only getting bigger and bigger every single year. I don’t think that’s always the right way forward… I think it’s not that straightforward, clearly even between how many seconds that you get.
Max Verstappen said, as reported by PlanetF1
Max Verstappen explains complex penalty saga
The reigning world champion highlighted that if rules were removed, drivers would want more rules for such battles. On the contrary, if said rules were imposed, many would complain about the sport having too many rules. This makes the situation even more difficult. Moreover, drivers such as Fernando Alonso have accused stewards of being biased towards certain nationalities in the past.
I think it’s never going to be perfect because even if you remove rules, then you get into a battle, then you want more rules because it’s not clear what is allowed or not. Then when you have too many rules, you want less rules.
Max Verstappen noted
Certainly, FIA will need to adopt a new approach to penalties after a polarizing 2024. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has so far not commented on such a possibility. However, it seems that drivers like Verstappen have grown tired of the current status quo.
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Armaan Agarwal
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