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This has been rumbling on for a while now and there's obviously a big split in opinion, so I'm interested to know who thinks what (and why). I think I've accurately summed up the general arguments for each side in the poll, but I've put an 'other' option just in case.

Anyone who's read the race threads will know I'm firmly in the 'no' camp - leaving a car's width is fairer, safer, and makes for better racing.

Ironically I'm mostly in the "no" camp, today's incidents were mainly unique to the layout of turn 3 and the inconsistency of that move happening before and some drivers not being penalised

In an ideal world the car being overtaken must leave at least a car's with, but in both the Albon vs Hamilton and Perez Vs Norris incidents (and again in the Indycar race with Dixon and Power just now), you have a car throwing itself around the outside of a car that cannot do anything to avoid an accident, is on full lock, understeering its way out of the corner on a slight downhill gradient, hits the kerb and runs into the car that's placed itself on the outside. I think Perez learnt this himself with the clash with Charles later on
Or he managed to have the same incident twice from both perspectives and still think he was innocent both times, who knows.

The main issue is that F1 has let this go for so long, if they're finally deciding to crack down on it, I'm all for it
But consistency please
Not "one driver gets away with it and another is penalised" or "it's ok if there's tarmac runoff at one corner but not ok if there's gravel at another" please

Post the rules of engagement in big block capitals in the drivers briefing room and then stick to what you told them would happen if they break the rules, no wiggle room
F1 has been all wiggle room and grey areas for far too long

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

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I think a car's width should be left, but each situation is different. Today, Perez and LeClerc had drawn alongside (maybe even slightly ahead) at corner entry. This should earn them the right to space.

However, if a car is trying to go around the outside and only has their front wheel up to the lead car's rear wheel, then you should expect the gap to close.

Not sure this needs much of a debate as the wording in the rulebook is pretty clear cut. The penalties were handed out on that basis.

Aside from that, from a racing perspective, if a driver isn't totally confident of being able to pull off a move on the outside, then bloody back out of it. But if you want to take the risk then be prepared to run out of room and don't fucking moan about it on the radio after.

This is the by-product of the astroturf racing. Drivers are not penalised for going off track since they can floor it on the astroturf 99% of time. And Turn 3 at Red Bull Racing has actually gravel on the outside. LeClerc represents the video game generation, he hasn't learned it the hard way and probably never will.

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of course drivers should give room to the other, just don't be dumb enough to tangle and cause mayhem (although I love wrecking after dumb moves)

the problem here is less of a driver issue and more about stewards, they should act more subtle and not trying to steal the show

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

Repeating myself from the Austrian GP thread, FIA was inconsistent today when they handed Lando a penalty for Turn 4 incident. Lando had just forced Perez outside T1 and no investigation was taken. They only taken action after it meant a significant loss to Perez.

About the poll, I voted for Other. If the outside driver is wheel to wheel, I think room must be given. But if the inside driver is, say, half a car ahead, outside driver must back it off.

Glad to see most people here are united with 'No', opinions on this topic haven't been that clear cut in the past. I'm for racing etiquette that encourages and allows for side by side racing for as long as possible, and puts pressure on drivers to keep their cars under control while trying to hold onto the position. The old line 'I'm slightly ahead so entitled to take the racing line' is antithetical to this, so I've always hated it. It's not hard racing, it's a kick in the dick and then running off to avoid a fight. You can put blocking in NASCAR and any form of team orders in the same box and throw it off a cliff.

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My 2 cents: If the outside car is slightly behind: No obligation to give room.
If the outside car is clearly alongside or even in front then give room.

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I shagged a couple of loose balls for her in warmups.

I will just refer to Alonso/Russell's battle. It has all the possible situations.

At some point, Russell exits wide at T4 when Alonso was starting his attack on the outside, but the speed differential and the relative positioning of the cars made it work and it was still respectful to Alonso and an expected defense. Another lap, when Alonso was fast enough to go outside T5, Russell knew to leave a space at exit.

I still voted for space leaving, but this is just to show that when drivers race smartly and respectfully, both cases just flow and feel right and fair.

The depresssing thing is, the exact same situation could happen again and not get a penalty, either due to different stewards in race control or excessive lobbying from the teams involved....

That's the worst thing about this weekend's situation tbh, either penalise or don't but be goddamn consistent.

Not massively sure Silverstone has the kind of corner that causes this to happen, maybe on the exit of the wellington straight and maybe if someone tries a brave move around the outside of luffield, but it will come up again, we will all point to this incident and expect a penalty, and then nothing and we'll be back here in this thread going through the whole thing again.

Count on it

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

I watched a bit of the NASCAR race at Road America and they always left room on the outside and it made for some excellent multi turn battles. I really liked that.

I voted Yes, but not in the way that you phrased the question. I voted yes if the driver on the outside isn't in front or fully along side. If their front wheels are behind the car on the inside, it is up to the driver behind to cede the corner. Level with wheels, the driver on the inside has to give room....but so does the guy on the outside.

But this is also assuming that a normalish racing line is taken and the corner kind of draws the car to the outside. If it is a wide corner and the car on the inside is off the racing line by a lot and continues the squeeze (even if the car isn't fully alongside) then I consider that to be taking a competitor off the track and warrants a penalty.

The penalty to Norris kinda just assumes that he can magically teleport out of the way, and doesn't take into account that the driver on the outside is also trying to squeeze the driver on the inside into a tighter racing line, impeding him as well. That one was a racing incident.

Perez's first one was worthy of a penalty, but I don't think the second one was. That was Leclerc trying to force it when he should have gotten out of it.

I voted yes.

Defending driver should have right to the normal racing line, unless the attacking car is clearly ahead.

Attacking driver should know when to yield, if they don't want to make contact.

Making a car wide to defend your position is part of racing. If you can't pass on the outside, then force the driver to give up the inside, the next time. It's part of racing.

Just let them race. Hard.

I really don't get this argument, you're describing things that didn't happen in the Norris incident. Perez was on the outside and was literally run off the road, he didn't pinch Norris at any point. Teleport out of the way of what? Norris was moving into Perez's line, not the other way around. Lando was the only one in this situation with options that avoided a collision, for example applying less throttle exiting the corner to allow for a tighter line and leave racing room on the outside since there's clearly a car there. Yes that compromises his exit speed, but this is a race, not a solo timed lap.

For all Norris's claims that he couldn't do anything different, it's ridiculous to say that unless he's suggesting he didn't even know Perez was there, which he clearly did. Perez did the same thing twice on Leclerc and was appropriately penalized, but at least he owned up to it after.

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Chainbear's take on this is typically excellent

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What a load of absolute hogswash. Perez was ALWAYS running out of road and had ample time to get out of throttle, but he kept his foot in it trying to force Norris off his line, which you yourself have just said. So yes by trying to hang on on the outside line Perez WAS trying to force Norris into a tighter line compromising his corner.

We must have watched completely different onboards, because Perez was going wide on that corner regardless. There was only ever one driver that was off the racing line trying to force another off it. And that was Perez.

So... Driver being overtaken doesn't leave room, drive overtaking is at least 3/4 along side as they exit corner, overtaken driver plows into side of overtaking driver... How is that in eithers interest?

If they guy on the outside holds his position, both crash... And this bullshit of not leaving room will stop. You can't just drive someone off the track.

If you pass on the outside expect no room. Bullshit. Under those rules the guy on the outside would have to complete the pass before exit or the inside driver would be perfectly fine pretending there's no one outside and just wrecking them both.