Almost all acquitted
During the long Italian night, the race commissioners of the Mexican Grand Prix listened to all the various drivers suspected of possible penalties. The various Verstappen, Russell and Alonso stopped by the federation offices – investigated for impeding at the exit of the pit lane – and then Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeantin the crosshairs for their cbehavior under the yellow flag regime. In the end though It was the only American who paid the pricedropped ten positions on the grid (in fact he will start last rather than second to last) for having overtaken Yuki Tsunoda’s car under the yellow flag.
All the others were saved. Regarding Hamilton, quite simply, it occurred as “the on-board video clearly shows that there is no light or flag displayed on car 44 on the straight leading to turn 1. A green light then comes on at the entrance to turn 2, followed by two pulses of yellow light and a few moments after the light panel is empty. The driver was slightly slower in the mini sector compared to his previous push lap“.
The doubts of the commissioners
The greatest curiosity, even after the ‘case’ of Singapore, is what concerned i slowdowns when exiting the pit lane. However, the stewards ‘acquitted’ all three pilots involved in this case, providing the same explanation: “The Sports Stewards – we read in the official note – believe that the entire series of accidents occurred as a direct consequence of the application of the minimum lap time between SC2 and SC1, which was designed (correctly, in our opinion) to avoid dangerous slowing down of the cars on the circuit during Qualifications. We note that there are opposite requirements for pilotsas they must respect the minimum time, they try to create manageable gaps from the cars in front, but they are also required to avoid stopping unnecessarily at the pit exit or driving unnecessarily slowly”.
This last sentence appears as one clear criticism from the commissioners of the regulatory procedures. Basically the stewards not only agreed with the pilots, but also highlighted how there is one in the current regulation substantial contradiction between the actions they must perform. It is therefore probable that, especially during the winter break, we will intervene on this particular aspect to find more coherent procedures.
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