Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that Max Verstappen will “always drive aggressively” within the current FIA Formula 1 driving guidelines.
Horner also suggested that those guidelines encourage drivers to dive down the outside into corners even if they are likely to go off track.
He indicated that was the case when Verstappen picked up a 10-second penalty for forcing Lando Norris off track at Turn 4 early in the Mexico City GP, before the Dutchman received another one for gaining an advantage while passing off-track.
He believes that the guidelines should be revisited to avoid “a mess” in the remaining four races.
The FIA has already invited drivers to discuss them in Qatar, although that meeting will be after the Interlagos and Las Vegas events.
“Max will always drive aggressively to what he perceives as the regulations,” said Horner. And when you step over that mark, then of course, you’ll get a penalty.
“I just fear that we’re perhaps over-complicating, and all I would do is encourage that there’s is a constructive discussion between the drivers and the driver steward to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to have another four hotly contested races. What is and what isn’t allowed?’”
Horner used a GPS data trace in an attempt to demonstrate to the media that Norris would not have made the corner at Turn 4 when the first incident occurred. He compared the McLaren driver’s fastest lap with the lap he was battling with Verstappen.
“He wouldn’t have made the corner,” Horner insisted. “He would have run off-track. You can see from his onboard steering. And of course, at this point in the race, he’s got probably 80 kilos more fuel than the point that he’s done his fastest lap.
“It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside. I think we’re in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down, where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex, and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.
“You can see quite clearly, he’s effectively come off the brakes, gone in super, super late to try and win that argument, as far as the way these regulations are written. And then at that point, you’re penalised.”
Horner said that the driver on the inside should always have priority.
“Now, every karting circuit, every indoor karting circuit around the world, if you’ve got the inside line, you control the corner,” he said. “It’s one of the principles in the physics of racing.
“And I think that they just need to get back to basics, that if you’re on the outside, you don’t have priority, and otherwise we will end up with a mess over these last four races.
“So I think it’s really important that that the driver steward, together with the drivers, agrees something that is sensible, rather than what we’re getting.”
He added: “Maybe we’re over-complicating things. And when you have to revert to an instruction manual of an overtake. I mean, the racing principles for years have been, if you have the inside line, you dictate the corner.
“And the way the regulations have, or the guidelines have evolved, is encouraging a driver to have his nose ahead at apex, irrelevant of whether you’re going to make the corner.
“You can quite see it clearly see on the overlay of those two laps that Lando has hung out there to get that advantage.
“So it’s something that just needs to be, I think, tidied up, so that everybody knows what is acceptable between now and the end of the season. Otherwise, we’re going to end up in a mess at the upcoming races.
“And I think it’s just important that the rules of engagement are fair, rather than giving an advantage to the outside line, which in the history of motorsport, being on the outside has always been the more risked place to be.
“But now it’s almost the advantage, because all you’ve got to do is have your nose ahead at the point that they turn in, irrelevant of whether you’re going to make the corner or not.”
Adam Cooper F1 