Verstappen: New moving-under-braking rules 'no surprise'

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen has said that the FIA's introduction of new rules about moving under braking were 'no surprise' given the complaints from other drivers about the way he had been driving defensively in races this season.

"If so many people are complaining, it is never a surprise," he said on Saturday, adding that it had felt quite odd to have been the focus of so many complaints and grumbles from other drivers.

"It is funny, yeah. I mean, I was just listening to it, and at the end everybody can have his own opinion, so that’s it.

"I did say some things, but at the end it doesn’t really make a lot of difference does it. For sure I speak for myself, what I think is right, that is what I did."

Ultimately Verstappen felt that it was good that the FIA had come to a definite decision on the subject and implemented new guidance to the drivers.

"I think it is a positive thing that they have put a rule on it. Maybe they can get past now," he said. "It is good that to make it more clear to everyone what is allowed and what is not.

"Let’s see how it is going to turn out," he continued. "They set up a rule, so everybody has to follow the rule.

"Probably it will lead to more passes. If it is positive passing, I don’t know, that is what we have to ask the fans at one point."

Verstappen said that he was aware that he would now have a split second in races as to when and how to adjust his approach to conform with the new rule.

"I have not really thought about it yet, what I should do or what I would do. I am just going to race and then we will see how it is going to be with overtaking and how people are defending.

"It is always in the heat of the moment, you are always trying to defend your position and so far it said in the rules that you could go to the inside under braking. Now it is not, so we will see how that is going to affect the race.

"Now you think the guy is definitely not going to go to the inside, so let’s just brake late and see what happens. That’s for sure. So if that is the right approach, I don’t know.

"But at the end of the day it is the same for everyone. We all have to deal with it. At the end it makes Formula One also more interesting instead of just getting by on DRS or just driving by in an easy overtake. But that’s not up to me."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.