Formula 1: FIA, once again, prove the rulebook is a farce

With yet another ridiculous decision to penalize a driver, the FIA prove, once again, that the Formula 1 rulebook is a gigantic farce.

The FIA have been under fire for much of the 2019 Formula 1 season for what have been deemed ridiculous decisions after ridiculous decision. They have many times drawn criticism for things such as not letting drivers race or being too harsh competition-wise in certain areas that are not actually relevant to competition.

Their latest penalty proved once again how big of a farce the Formula 1 rulebook is.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took the pole position for Sunday afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but he was issued a three-position grid penalty for ignoring the yellow flags when Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas crashed at the end of the qualifying session.

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Verstappen took the pole position for this 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.303-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City, Mexico by recording a track record lap time of 74.758 seconds (128.767 miles per hour), and he did so on the lap when the yellow flags flew.

The 22-year-old Dutchman admitted that he ignored those yellow flags, but he was already on the provisional pole with a lap time that would have kept him on the pole position even had he backed off on his track record lap.

But the FIA effectively canceled that initial pole lap as well, even though it had nothing to do with the violation, and penalized him by dropping him three positions on the starting grid to fourth place.

According to Formula 1, the stewards stated the following.

"“[Verstappen] attempted to set a meaningful lap time and failed to reduce his speed in the relevant marshalling sector.”“[Verstappen] admitted that he was aware that car 77 (Valtteri Bottas) crashed and did see the car on the left hand side of the track, but was not aware of the waved yellow flag. He also admitted not reducing his speed on the yellow sector.“The Stewards noted from the on board images of Car 33, that the waved yellow flag was clearly visible and was shown with enough notice.“The previous driver (Vettel) reduced the speed significantly as per the regulations.”"

It is worth noting that Bottas himself still hasn’t been issued any kind of penalty, although that could change depending on a few factors leading up to the race. He qualified in sixth place.

We can spend all day hiding behind the fact that “it’s in the rules” and whatnot. And yes, it is in the rules, and Verstappen should have slowed down for safety purposes. No one is saying that he was unjustly summoned to the stewards.

But there is no set penalty for such violation, and Verstappen had already recorded a lap that would have put him on the pole position. Plus, he was penalized for a safety violation, meaning the violation itself had nothing to do with competition.

So why was the penalty issued a competition-based penalty that could make or break his race weekend?

Think about it.

I get the idea of “hitting them where it hurts” to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But it’s too much of a slippery slope to start taking thing away from driver that they have earned as a result of violations. Where do we draw the line?

Do keep in mind that these are the same people who wouldn’t let Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat wear a differently designed helmet for his home race, the Russian Grand Prix, at the end of last month, and their explanation for why could have been the basis of an all-new comedy series.

Would he have been issued a grid penalty had he worn it anyway?

I guess, because hey, “it’s in the rules!”

There comes a time when you have to wonder why certain regulations themselves aren’t “regulated”; that’s what it all boils down to.

Verstappen even admitted that he didn’t slow down, yet evidently, based on the stewards’ explanation of his penalty, that truthfulness aided them in their decision to penalize him.

In other words, it would have been better had he lied, even with all the same evidence available.

But instead, he stated a fact about not slowing down, giving the FIA additional evidence against him. Again, neither the fact that he provided nor the other evidence against him changes anything about the fact that he already had a pole-worthy lap well before the Bottas incident occurred.

Their penalty fit nothing more than the idea of the “all-powerful FIA”. It certainly did not fit the crime. But in 2019, what do you expect from the governing body?

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Will Max Verstappen rebound from this ridiculous penalty in this afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix? Verstappen is the winner of the last two Formula 1 races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and he led 138 of the combined 142 laps in these two races. He did not start either from the pole position, although he did start on the front row in both of them. ABC is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 3:05 p.m. ET this afternoon.

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