Charlie Whiting has told reporters the FIA may are considering changes to Turn’s 1 and 2 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after corner cutting became a major talking point at the Mexico Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton was forced to take to the grass at the first corner and avoid the chicane at Turn 2 & 3 after he out-braked himself. As a result, the Briton gained a substantial lead before a Virtual Safety Car was called for another incident.
Hamilton was never penalised for this as stewards tend to take a more lenient approach to such things on the first lap but Verstappen wasn’t so lucky.
The Dutchman was handed a five-second time penalty after the race because he also had to take to the grass when he out-braked himself defending an attack from Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages of the race.
Now in a move to avoid such issues happening in the future Whiting told reporters in Thursday’s press conference for the Brazilian Grand Prix the FIA is likely to enforce a similar system as we see in Monza, where drivers are forced to slow down if they cut the chicane.
“I think we have done this in a number of circuits where you have a situation similar to the one we had in Mexico – the second chicane at Monza, the last chicane in Montreal, Sochi Turn 2,” said Whiting.
“We have developed systems that drivers have to take a certain route back on the track [and] thereby are automatically slower.
“This wasn’t a problem last year in Mexico simply because the grass was all new and it was wetter and more difficult to drive across. This year quite clearly it was easy to drive across and hence became a problem.
“It is very easy to rectify that and do a similar sort of arrangement to come back onto the track, which will mean drivers will come back slower and there will be no discussion whether or not they gained an advantage.”
Whiting went on to defend the reasoning behind Hamilton avoiding a penalty for his corner cutting by insisting the current world champion didn’t have a “lasting advantage”.
“I think the first, the principal difference between the two was that, in the Lewis Hamilton case, it was felt he didn’t gain a lasting advantage and, in Max’s, case he did,” said Whiting.
“He [Hamilton] gains significant track advantage but gives it back immediately, we can see on the straight – backs off to 80 percent throttle to give advantage back, then a minute later the SC is deployed and that advantage gone completely, so stewards felt no lasting advantage.
“On the case with Max and Seb, if Max had done the same thing between Turn 3/5 he would certainly have lost a place as stewards felt he had gained a lasting advantage – that is the fundamental difference between the two.”
