F1 drivers warned not to indulge in backing-off qualie tactics

The FIA has warned drivers to expect grid penalties if they indulge in undesirable backing-off tactics during Saturday's qualifying session at Monza.

Speaking to the congregation of drivers at Friday evening's briefing, F1 race director Michael Masi said that he will not accept a repeat of the antics that took place at Spa last weekend, when drivers deliberately slowed and queued up in order to seek an opportunistic tow from a rival.

Monza's topography lends itself well to slip-streaming tactics from which drivers can gain up to half a second.

• Russell predicting slipstream chaos in Monza qualifying

Masi refrained from imposing a strict rule to regulate tow tactics during qualifying but urged drivers to resort to common sense and not drive unnecessarily slow.

The FIA lowered the boom on fifteen F3 drivers during their qualifying session at Monza on Friday, handing out penalties to those you had purposefully - and dangerously - slowed on the back straight while other cars arrived at full speed.

Williams' George Russell said he was expecting "chaos" to ensue during this afternoon's qualie while Sebastian Vettel also predicted some "strange games" to take place.

"If you look on paper, this is the place where you expect these kind of strange games," said the German, quoted by Motorsport.com.

"There’s very little you can do to sort of prepare because it depends on the timing of the session.

"Here I think the lap is a bit shorter so maybe it buys you a bit more flexibility but yeah, we’ll see on Saturday."

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