Max Verstappen talking to Mohammed bin Sulayem — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Rules & Regulations

FIA take action after Verstappen track limits mishap

The FIA have stepped in mid-race weekend in Austin

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Saturday 21 October 2023 21:12 Updated: 05:54

The FIA have extended certain parts of the track at the Circuit of the Americas, after they held conversations with both Formula 1 drivers and teams.

Track limits has been a hotly-debated topic once again at the United States Grand Prix.

Sunday's pole-sitter, Charles Leclerc, even admitted to nearly having a 'heart attack' after he thought his race engineer had informed him that his stunning lap time would have to be deleted for straying the wrong side of the white line.

Article continues under video

Yet it seems that the FIA have now taken action, mid-weekend, to try and take the pressure off the drivers when it comes to track limits.

Charles Leclerc claimed pole after Max Verstappen saw his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits

Max Verstappen will start the US Grand Prix sixth on the grid

And now the FIA have taken action over the ongoing track limits issue

FIA take action over track limits

According to the FIA, the white lines at the outside of Turn 9, Turn 12 and Turn 19 have been widened in order to give drivers further room on the track.

The decision was taken after talks were held with both drivers and teams on Friday.

The amendment to Turn 19 in particular may cause a wry smile to appear across Verstappen's face, with that corner being the one that proved fatal for the Dutchman's chances at claiming pole.

Yet the news was seemingly not overly well communicated from the FIA, with Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle even admitting to being caught out by the change during the final stages of the sprint shootout.

And it turns out that George Russell may well have also been caught out at Turn 19, if it wasn't for the late change, as fellow Sky pundit Anthony Davidson revealed.

George Russell benefitted from track limits being extended at COTA during Saturday's sprint shootout

“Well Martin asked for it and if he asks he gets," he told Sky Sports. "So we’ve got George Russell here at Turn 19, on that fastest lap of his and you can see, he stays within the white lines at all times so that’s why that lap wasn’t looked at and actually, on top of that they’ve extended this white line since yesterday.

“So they’ve made it wider, you can see where it used to be, on this line here as I follow the arrow there, that’s the width of the white line where it was yesterday.

"They look like they’ve painted on extra bits today, so I haven’t heard the reasons behind that but it’s clearly changed since yesterday.

"It’s the part on the right-hand side of course that’s really mattering in that circumstance. George got away with that one.”