Opinion | F1 supervision in 2023? Just as inconsistent

Race supervision has been a rather sensitive topic in recent times and reached particularly high points during the Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry in the 2021 season. However, the amount of attention the issue has received since then does not seem to have helped matters.

At the start of the 2022 Austin Grand Prix at the Circuit Of The Americas, Carlos Sainz Jr. had a poor start from pole, so Max Verstappen was able to take the lead with ease. Sainz, in turn, braked early and tried to make a line change on Max, cutting to the inside on corner exit, at which point Russell came out of nowhere, front tyres cold and locked up, out of control and slammed into the Ferrari's left side pontoon, fatally injuring the Spaniard's race. Russell received a 5 second penalty at the time.

Just 6 races later

At the start of last weekend's sprint race, Max Verstappen starts badly from third position so Russell was able to gain the inside chord of the corner. In any other situation, Russell would have been able to claim the top step of the podium with ease in the opening stages of the race. However, the driver he wanted to take the position from was Max Verstappen in the RB19. The fight continued into Turn 3, but it was at Turn 2 that an event that would define the Dutchman's result.

The exit of Turn 1 was a very committed one. Both drivers were on the limit and the Red Bull driver almost hit the wall with his right rear tyre, but on the entry to Turn 2 Russell had the slower line into the corner, as he was not far enough in front of the Dutchman to leave him off the track on the exit of the corner. However, the young British talent entered the corner very quickly anyway, then had to block on the exit of the corner because Verstappen had been able to keep his RB19 on par with the W14 through the corner. The result was another broken sidepod.

The problem is not George Russell

George Russell is a brilliant talent with back-to-back titles in F3 and F2, he has a track record of scoring points in cars that should not have scored points (the Williams he drove for the first 3 years of his Formula One career), and last year he beat Hamilton with maturity and intelligence. The problem is not George Russell - why does the FIA want to get rid of tyre warmers? Not only is it dangerous, it robs the fans of the show. The only thing that cold tyres at the start of a Grand Prix do is increase the chances of an accident and rob the drivers of grip that could be used to be bolder at the start.

Lack of consistency in race supervision

But, more than tyre warmers and tarmac exhaust areas around the track, drivers need not only a code of conduct, but also objective and strict judges who enforce clearly worded regulations that are easy to understand, interpret and implement whenever necessary. We are in the 74th Formula One season and it cannot be that neither the fans, nor the drivers, nor the teams, nor the commentators and pundits, nor the race officials know exactly how to judge such elementary actions as the incident that occurred between Russell and Verstappen in Azerbaijan, especially when a precedent had already been set 6 races earlier.

And at this stage you would think that the number one priority of both the FIA, F1 and Liberty Media would be focused on the safety of both drivers, fans and volunteer marshals. But, the events that took place in Melbourne this season, the removal of tyre warmers, the people who were almost run over by Esteban Ocon last weekend, are signs that both the FIA and F1 still need to keep a closer eye on the safety of F1.