Drivers have blamed the mandated minimum lap time for creating chaos in the pit lane during qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Following qualifying, Max Verstappen and George Russell were both investigated for impeding while exiting the lane during Qualifying 2.
It came as teams all sent their cars out on track at the same time, creating a queue at the end of the lane as drivers checked up to create space.
That was what caught the eye of officials, who initially noted both Verstappen and Russell before confirming the duo would be investigated after the session.
Drivers have a minimum lap time they must adhere to once out on the circuit and argue it leaves the pit lane as the only place to create a gap to the car ahead.
In Mexico this weekend, the maximum time between Safety Car lines is 1:36.0, a point communicated to teams shortly after Free Practice 2.
“We all actually slow down at the end of the pit lane to create an eight-second, six- to eight-second gap to the car in front,” explained Carlos Sainz.
“You expect everyone behind you not to overtake you because they also need to open an eight-second gap to you.”
The maximum time between Safety Car lines was introduced to address two issues; cars driving unnecessarily slowly and managing the closing speed between cars in the final part of the lap, where drivers have traditionally slowed to create a gap.
While the latter is less of an issue in Mexico, it is a factor elsewhere.
“The biggest thing we got rid of is the dangerous situation, especially in the last second – not necessarily here because the last sector is pretty low-speed, but in Spa for example sometimes we will have difference of speed between the cars that will be crazy.
“It’s been quite a good solution for that.
“On the other hand, it has created other problems that are not great, obviously the end of the pit lane.
“But this is, I think, the least of the problems.
“The biggest one that I found myself quite a lot in is whenever, especially in Q1, you’ve got two cars that are in a different sequence, and if you get out of the pit and you pass the Safety Car Line 2 at the same time as a car out on track, then you are basically done.
“Both of the cars are respecting the minimum lap time and you cannot open the gap – you just have to fight the car like I did in Qatar with Fernando or your lap is done.”
The need to drive slowly and build a gap is two-fold; to be clear of the aerodynamic wake of the car ahead while not abusing the temperature-sensitive Pirelli tyres.
Of those, the drivers reason the former is of greater influence.
“I don’t think it’s tyre related unless we would qualify on harder tyres,” Sainz argued when Speedcafe asked about the impact of the need to manage the delicate tyres on the out-lap.
“We could do a lot faster out laps and obviously the minimum lap time doesn’t come into play.
“But the problem would still be there because there’s too many cars for the six- to eight-second gap that every car chases.
“If you multiply 20 cars by eight seconds, you’re always going to have traffic at some point in Q1 or Q2.”
The chaos seen in qualifying in Mexico City were nothing new, Verstappen was reprimanded for similar behaviour in Singapore.
But it’s a point drivers feel needs to be addressed as, under the current rules, they effectively have no alternative.
“It’s all imperfect at the moment,” Verstappen noted.
“We need to come up with something else, but it’s hard.
“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.
“I think we have to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing it’s a safe environment, I mean, we’re driving really slowly.”
Sainz added: “We just need to sit down now and find an even better solution for next year and for the future.
“We’re still not happy with the situation in pit lane, so we already had a couple of ideas to improve it for next year, but it needs some change in the regulations and stuff like that – that requires a different year and a change from the FIA also.”
