In the race, the Red Bull driver failed to take the extra point for the fastest lap of the Grand Prix as he went wide by millimetres on his best lap.Īfter the opening stanza of the 2021 F1 season, track limits has become less of an issue but that could quickly change in future races.F1 drivers have plenty to think about while racing around the world at lightning speeds. In Imola, Lando Norris missed out on an extraordinary quaifying result due to a breach of track limits in Q3.Īnother controversial moment was at the Portuguese Grand Prix when Verstappen missed out on pole position due to going wide during his first Q3 run. At the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton went off the track at Turn 4 at least 30 times but was not penalised due to a grey area within the regulations.Īlso in the season-opener, Max Verstappen overtook Hamilton for the lead off the track at the same Turn 4 corner in Bahrain but was forced to hand the position back which cost him the race win. The opening races of the 2021 Formula 1 season saw track limits become a hugely debated topic. Why are track limits in F1 so controversial? As of the 2021 British Grand Prix, nobody has breached the track limits regulations enough to be awarded more than one time penalty.

It's not entirely clear whether you continue to receive five-second time penalties or you start to be punished more harshly with 10-second time penalties and drive-through penalties. This happened to Yuki Tsunoda at the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. After your three lives, you receive a black and white flag on your fourth abuse of track limits.Īfter this, the stewards will award a driver a five-second time penalty. In the race, you get three chances to go outside of the track. Not only will you lose your lap time on that lap, but also the following lap as the stewards believe that you gain an advantage by taking more speed off the final corner to start your next lap. This was the case at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix. There is a double penalty if this happens at the final corner. If you do go off the track, your lap time is deleted and will not count in practice or qualifying. Now, the FIA assess specific corners where track limits is usually a problem and say it's only when you have all four wheels outside of the outer edge of the exit kerb. It used to be, if you had all four wheels outside of the white lines you would be deemed to be off the track.

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