A bit of controversy in recent years involving Max Verstappen and his interpretation of the F1 rules and regulations, specifically the ones regarding holding your position and overtaking. When I was growing up, I started watching F1 in the late 2000s, and the rule, or at least the unwritten rule, was always that there are two white lines marking the track boundaries. As long as you and your rival stayed within those white lines, it was all fair game (effectively, you had to leave a car's width between yourself and the white lines). Insert Alonso’s “all the time you have to leave a da space.”

This rule was definitely around in the early-to-mid 2010s. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed like it did not exist anymore. I remember being so mad every time Max made an overtake or defended his position because he was quite literally just pushing people off the track without getting punished. It was only toward the back end of last year that I remember hearing about the “so long as you’re ahead at the apex” rule.

Max is very intelligent when it comes to interpreting the rules and pushing the limits wherever possible. When he realised he could out-brake himself to be ahead at the apex, regardless of whether he or his rival stayed on track, and he did not get punished for it, he just kept doing it.

Do I think this is good racecraft? Absolutely not. Does it make for exciting racing? Sometimes. But should Max be held accountable for exploiting a flawed rulebook to gain an advantage? Once again, absolutely not. This is entirely on the FIA and Formula One for allowing such a ridiculous interpretation of the rules and more so for actually sticking by them.

Now my three-part question is this:

Was the “car’s width” rule ever officially in the rules and regulations?

If so, when did it change or get reinterpreted to the “ahead at the apex” rule?

And finally, why on earth did they decide that was going to be the rule going forward?

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