nevill3 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:22 pm
Massi, the steward, has stated that the directions regarding turn 4 didn't change during the race, it was just perceived to have changed by everybody due to the radio message to Lewis advising him to curtail the excessive extension of turn 4 that he had started doing.
Mercedes obviously were aware that all drivers should not leave the track unnecessarily and were just making sure that Lewis didn't open himself up to a potential penalty by excessively abusing the track limits at turn 4 even though they were not being policed. The stewards did not issue a warning to Mercedes regarding Lewis, Mercedes were policing things themselves.
masi's statement is going to end this endless debate now? race director and stewards were consistent in allowing excursions on t4 and issue no warning to anyone. lewis did it and so many other drivers. max didn't do it because he didn't pay attention in the drivers' briefing. it's just mercedes policing themselves and asking their driver to stop the excursions, leading people to jump to the conclusion that stewards changed their stance and issued warning, which is not true.
the only rule then remained was an overtake without making the corner clean, leading to lasting advantage, which requires the driver overtaking to relegate the position. that was the only rule applicable. fair enough.
some people here believe, before max went off, he was ahead of lewis. the problem is, he carried too much speed due to which he couldn't make the corner clean. it was that same extra speed that allowed him to get ahead of lewis, but forced him to go off track. so technically, to make the t4 clean, he should have taken slightly less speed and if he would have done that, he wouldn't have gotten ahead of lewis.