F1 News
Annoyed Verstappen seeks solution: 'I don't understand that'
Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz all agree: something needs to change about the chaos in qualifying. Now the issue is in the pit lane, and even that is not ideal, but what is the solution? It may not come until 2024.
It was a remarkable sight during F1 qualifying in Mexico. All sorts of cars in the pit lane, but no one could move because the one in front was waiting to create a gap with the car in front of him. Max Verstappen and George Russell were investigated by the stewards, but according to the drivers, the problem does not lie with them.
Why Verstappen had to wait in the pit lane
The pit lane incidents arose because of a rule by the FIA. The latter wanted to prevent chaos on the track and therefore set a minimum time that drivers had to comply with between safety car lines 1 and 2. The first line is just outside the pit lane, so drivers wait in the pit lane to create a gap to the car in front of them. So the problem has moved from chaotic moments on the track to the pit lane.
"I think it's all imperfect at the moment, so we need to come up with something else, but it's hard. The thing I don't understand is everyone is trying to make a gap now in the pit lane, which is the only place where we can do so, so I don't really understand how you can be impeding someone. I think we have to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing that it's a safe environment. We're driving really slow," Verstappen revealed after qualifying.
Why a solution from the FIA is pending
At the time, Verstappen did not know he would get away with the offence, as not much later, the stewards came to the same conclusion as the drivers. Drivers need space to drive their laps. If they drive straight to the outside and get stuck behind another car, they need to slow down. They just can't because then you won't make the slowest time allowed. So waiting in the pitlane is the best alternative at the moment.
Similarly, Leclerc agreed with Verstappen, and Sainz even takes it a step further. The Spaniard believes the drivers should come together to find a solution. "I think we just need to sit down now and find an even better solution for next year and for the future, because this one has just moved the problem to the pit lane, but we're still not happy with the situation at the pit lane. We already had a couple of ideas to improve it for next year, but it needs some changing regulations and stuff like that that requires a different year and a change from the FIA also," the Ferrari driver concluded.