Racing to the guidelines

In the opening seconds of the Miami Grand Prix it looked like Lando Norris was going to wrest the lead from Max Verstappen into Turn 2, as the McLaren driver got the power down out of Turn 1 while the Red Bull was squirming on the kerbs, having run out wide.

Turn 2 is a quick left-hander and although Norris was on the outside as they charged towards it side by side, he had more momentum and a less compromised approach angle. But rather than racing through the corner, the latest driving guidelines for 2025 stipulate that the contest effectively ends at the apex. To be entitled to racing room, the overtaking driver on the outside must now have his front axle at least level with that of the inside driver. He did not quite have that – because Verstappen committed everything to being ahead at that apex, taking in so much speed that he was only just able to get through the corner off-throttle, and even then ground out the Red Bull’s floor over the exit kerb. Along the way he’d banged wheels with Norris, no longer obliged to give the McLaren room – with Norris forced to take to the gravel and losing three places as he rejoined.

This latest version of the driving guidelines was initiated by George Russell. The backdrop to that was the penalty he’d received in last year’s US Grand Prix for his pass on Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber at Turn 12 in Austin, which broke the guidelines as they then were (by not leaving a car’s width to his outside). He felt this was unfair and pressed for a revision. These came into effect at the start of this season.

Verstappen had been the victim of the new interpretation at the first corner of Jeddah when Oscar Piastri had run him out of room, obliging him to take to the run-off. But on that occasion the ess-bend layout meant the run-off was a short-cut and Verstappen rejoined ahead, for which he was penalised. Here, the gravel run-off was in the other direction to the turn. “I think it’s quite clear what is allowed and what isn’t allowed,” said Verstappen. “So I think everyone is adjusted to that. For me it’s always better to leave it more natural but I just follow the rules.”

His team boss Christian Horner added, “It doesn’t feel like natural racing anymore, maybe it feels like we’re becoming overregulated in the wheel-to-wheel racing because they’re racing to different lines. It’s becoming quite unnatural. So I don’t know whether we just need a little bit of a reset. It would be good if perhaps drivers discuss that at the next race, because it just feels like when you introduce too many regulations, you end up racing in this unnatural way.”