Michael Masi doesn't understand the fuss: "It is clearly explained"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
After the Bahrain Grand Prix there was a lot of controversy about track limits. The rules around enforcing them in Turn 4 are said to be too unclear or confusing. Michael Masi, the FIA's race director, says according to Motorsport-Total.com, that he feels he has explained it very clearly.
"It was clearly explained in the driver briefing and was also stated in the minutes for this event that we would not monitor violations if it was just about lap times. But it was always clear and it is also in the regulations that there should be no lasting advantage."
Overtaking according to Masi the distinguishing factor
What is debatable about this sentence and therefore the regulations is that the words 'lasting advantage' are rather open to interpretation. Isn't time gained each lap by crossing the white line as well? In any case, Masi says that in this case it specifically meant that Max Verstappen gained an advantage when overtaking Lewis Hamilton by overtaking someone off the track.
"I immediately instructed Red Bull to give the position back, as required by the sporting regulations [Article 27.3] and which they did. It was not about exceeding the 'track limits' per se, but about gaining a sustained advantage by overtaking another vehicle off the track," Masi said.
However, it must be an overtaking action before action is taken by the race committee is not written in so many words in article 27.3 and Hamilton was also warned during the race that he was not allowed to colour outside the lines again, which also contradicts this.