FIA Clarify Rules For Danger-Seekers

LONDON – Formula One’s ruling body has this week clarified the rules on dangerous racing moves by drivers defending a position in the heat of a race — and giving the benefit of the doubt to the man who is leading.

The ruling comes after several controversial incidents this year in which  drivers have vigorously defended their positions and in some cases forced  challenging rivals off the circuit.

One of the most publicised of these cases came at the Bahrain Grand Prix  when Nico Rosberg of Mercedes robustly defended his position from attacks, or  attempts to pass, by Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren and then Fernando Alonso of  Ferrari.

Both challenging drivers felt aggrieved at the way in which Rosberg moved  his car to defend his position, forcing them to run wide and in Hamilton’s case  off the circuit completely.

The race stewards investigated the incidents at the time and took no action  because it was said that no “significant part” of either Hamilton or Alonso’s  cars was alongside Rosberg at the time.

The incidents created some uproar, however, and many drivers called for a  clearer explanation of what might be considered to be a “significant part” of a  car.

Charlie Whiting, the race director of the ruling body the International  Motoring Federation (FIA) has now made clear that “any driver defending his  position on a straight, and before any braking area, may use the full width of  the track during his first move provided no significant portion of the car  attempting to pass is alongside his.

“Whilst defending in this way, the driver may not leave the track without  justifiable reason.”

In an effort to clarify the ruling, he added: “For the avoidance of doubt,  if any part of the front wing of the car attempting to pass is alongside the  rear wheel of the car in front this will be deemed to be a ’significant  portion’.”

This, in effect, means that an attacking car has to find a way to move the  front wing of his car alongside the rear wheels of the defending car to be able  to claim that he is in a position to overtake — and that the defending driver  cannot move around to defend that position.

At the time of the Bahrain incident, Rosberg said he would be happy for the  FIA to provide clarification on driving standards.

“It is driver safety and we need to do the best we can so that we can move  forward. We could look at implementing more rules in that situation because it  is not very clear, but it can be looked at,” he said.

“Rules such as a car width (when a driver is moving back towards the racing  line after making a block) is very good because we need that clear situation to  penalise drivers when there is a need to…”

The clarification means also that Rosberg can rest easy because in both  cases in Bahrain he defended his position without breaking the rules. – AFP

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