F1 drivers Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc have joined forces, urging stewards to reconsider the strict enforcement of the recently-imposed minimum lap-time rule in the pit-lane during qualifying.
The call for leniency comes after the FIA introduced the rule at the Italian Grand Prix to address safety concerns regarding closing speeds between cars on flying laps and those on slower out-laps.
Verstappen, who himself faced stewards for impeding in the pit-lane, expressed his concerns about the current situation: “It’s all imperfect at the moment. We need to come up with something else, but it’s hard. The thing I don’t understand is like everyone is trying to make a gap now in the pit lane, which is the only place where we can do it, so I don’t really understand how you can be impeding someone.”
The Red Bull driver emphasized the need for more leniency in the pit-lane, considering it a safe environment for creating gaps before flying laps: “I mean, we’re driving really slow, it’s the only place where we can make a gap because, I mean, we drive out of the box, and, of course, we in the beginning of the pit-lane, we didn’t know, of course, what other people are doing, so, you are constantly, of course, then trying to judge a gap.”
Leclerc echoed Verstappen’s sentiments, highlighting the dangers in specific sectors of certain tracks: “[I have a] very similar thinking. I think the biggest thing that we got rid of is the dangerous situation, especially in the last sector. In Spa, for example, sometimes we will have differences of speed between cars that will be crazy, and with that, I think it’s been quite a good solution for that.”
While both drivers acknowledged the positive impact of the minimum lap-time rule on track safety, they emphasized the unintended consequences in the pit-lane. They called for a balanced compromise that addresses safety concerns without creating new issues.
As the 2023 F1 season concludes, teams and drivers now turn their attention to the upcoming 2024 season, set to kick off with official F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on February 23-25.
