FIA race director Michael Masi says he will sit down with Formula 1 drivers at the next race to discuss rules regarding overtaking after Kimi Raikkonen’s “marginal” call.
Raikkonen was embroiled in a battle with Fernando Alonso during the US Grand Prix that saw the pair run side-by-side at Turn 1, with Alonso being robust in his defence against the Alfa Romeo driver.
Although Raikkonen gained the position having run all four wheels over the white line, he wasn’t ordered to give the position back by race control much to Alonso’s frustration.
Alonso found himself battling Raikkonen’s team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi a few laps later, going off track at Turn 12 to take the position, but, unlike Raikkonen, the Spaniard was told to hand the place back.
When Alonso attempted to pass Giovinazzi for a second time, the Italian took to the run-off and stayed ahead of the Alpine driver, before being told by his team to return the position.
Alonso was baffled as to why Raikkonen wasn’t penalised for gaining a position off-track, unlike other incidents he was involved in, calling the stewards’ decision as “strange”.
Speaking after the race, Masi understood Alonso’s point of view, believing the circumstances of the incident needed to be brought up with the drivers at the Mexican Grand Prix.
“I can understand his frustration,” said Masi, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “The call in regards to him and Kimi at Turn 1 was certainly marginal.
“We certainly will have a discussion at the next drivers’ meeting with all of the drivers about it, because I think there was two parts to the story, let’s call it.
“There is being obviously the overtake and looking at the forcing off the track, and then obviously the subsequent element of the overtake. So it is something we will discuss at the next meeting.”
Masi explained that Raikkonen escaped punishment as there was an argument that Alonso had forced him wide.
“You hit the nail on the head, that’s why it was a marginal call,” he said. “There were obviously the two elements of it that were looked at, and it was determined on that basis that marginally it made the decision: ‘let’s just leave it as it is’. But certainly it will no doubt be discussed at the next drivers’ meeting.”
Alonso suggested that judgments on incidents have to be made quicker given the time it took for him to be told to hand the place back to Giovinazzi, but Masi disagreed with this theory.
“The important part is that you need to actually look at it, to actually look at everything around it,” Masi explained. “And my call to the teams is a recommendation.
“They can choose not to follow it, and if they choose not to, I don’t have the power to say you have to do this. It’s ‘I suggest that you do this’. And if they choose not to, I refer that to the stewards for them to view, and they’ll make their judgement accordingly.”
Asked if Alonso’s move on Giovinazzi was him trying to make a point to the stewards, Masi said: “No, not at all. I didn’t hear Fernando’s radio at all, but obviously he went off and my suggestion went to the team that they give the position back, which happened.
“And then the same thing happened a couple of laps later with Antonio and Fernando, and the instruction went to Alfa Romeo for that position to be given back.”
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