Why F1’s treatment of Verstappen was a joke

Sunday was a day of motorsport for me, which included watching the MotoGP race from Phillip Island as well as the United States Grand Prix. What a contrast there was between the maximum-commitment racing overtakes there and the mirror-signal-manoeuvre DRS passes that we see so often in Formula 1.

From the first lap to the last I couldn't take my eyes off it, and the riders were happy to be interviewed before and after the races - and had smiles on their faces.

Between the seven of them riding a mixture of manufacturer bikes - Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis and Aprillias - and even a couple of privateer (yes, privateer!) Hondas and Yamahas, overtaking was on a corner-by-corner basis. Some of them were so close that Valentino Rossi actually ended up with black rubber marks on the left shoulder of his leathers from eventual winner Marc Marquez's front tyre!

His comment was that these young guys are mad, so if you want to beat them you have to be a little bit madder. At 38, it's great to see he can lift his game to match the best of them.

Initially, the lead was taken by second-row starter Jack Miller. He had an accident and broke his leg 22 days earlier. It was operated on and plated, so a bit stiff, and he wasn't on top form and faded a bit towards the end. But leading as he did for something like five laps showed the commitment of some of these guys.

The United States GP was actually one of the best races of the season, and up until the stewards intervened in the Max Verstappen/Kimi Raikkonen battle for third place it was a match for anything MotoGP produced.

Well, except for the pre-race driver introduction. I'm afraid to say it was a bit sad to see, and if that's the way F1 has to go to get the viewers and spectator numbers up, then it should be re-named 'The Liberty Media Racing Circus' - it certainly didn't light my fire.

Verstappen drove a stormer on a two-stop strategy. He fitted softs on lap 24 and then super-softs on lap 37, and after starting 16th was up to fourth and right behind Kimi Raikkonen starting the last lap.

In Turn 17, he passed Raikkonen by cutting the inside of the corner, and once again track limits suddenly became the major talking point after the race - rather than the spectacular wheel-to-wheel racing.

Everyone will have their opinion, but from my point of view track-limits regulations and their implementation are once again a joke.

During practice and qualifying, out of Turn 9/10 and T19 it's obvious to viewers that we can see all the cars using more track than the white line allows for. If we can see it and the TV commentators do nothing but complain about it, then surely it's time for the FIA to step in and penalise anyone who has four wheels outside the line.

It's either that or do nothing at all and let the drivers use what part of the paved surface they want to. But to randomly penalise some drivers on some corners at some circuits just seems completely wrong.

After doing nothing during practice or qualifying, to penalise Verstappen for cutting the inside of the corner at T17 when he pulled off a fantastic overtaking manoeuvre on Raikkonen just makes the situation even more laughable.

Consistency is everything and that is not what we are seeing. The overtake happened at more or less the end of the last lap, and by the time the drivers had done the slowing down lap and got into the cool-down room before the podium ceremony, the stewards had made the decision to give him a five-second penalty.

Either implement the regulation as it stands or forget about it altogether and let the drivers race. Long-term, a more up-to-date way of dealing with this is essential

There couldn't have been much discussion between them in the time they had available, and something as big as this should have been thoroughly discussed.

Verstappen is one of the main attractions in Formula 1 at the moment. He is an exceptionally talented driver, and to penalise him for this move when the others who went outside track limits during the race didn't even get mentioned is just downright wrong.

I have said many times that if we are in a world that is heading for driverless cars and sending people for a day trip into space, surely the might of F1 can come up with some type of electronic sensor that will automatically detect when a car goes too wide?

One per corner would be enough to eliminate this visually frustrating trend. Even better, the cars could carry a sensor on each side of the underfloor and a simple magnetic line painted on the extremities of the track would give the driver, the teams and the FIA a signal.

Either way, consistency on such an obvious thing is important for everyone. As I said above, for the short term there are two choices. Either implement the regulation as it stands and ensure that the white line is the track limit so that if you have all four wheels over it you get an immediate five-second penalty in qualifying or the race. Or forget about it altogether and let the drivers race. But in the long-term, a more up-to-date way of dealing with this is essential.

Looking at the battle at the front, Ferrari brought a whole host of developments. There was a new diffuser, modifications to the floor in front of the rear tyre, and new front wing endplates - and all were fitted to Sebastian Vettel's car. These are all components that work with the wheel and tyre rotation and with the ground, so it's critical in terms of windtunnel/CFD and circuit correlation. To get that right, you need to run and get lots of data or it's easy to go down the wrong route.

When I heard Ferrari was changing the chassis on Vettel's car after FP2 I was worried that it wouldn't get the best from what it had. I think the weekend performance, and the race pace in particular, showed that. Vettel had a quick spin at Turn 19 on Friday and complained about the front of the car feeling like jelly. That led to the chassis change.

Ferrari should have enough data to see if it had a problem and pinpoint what was causing it. If not, a good chassis inspection should highlight any component-mounting problems or chassis delamination issues. Ferrari said it could see what Vettel was talking about but not what was causing it, so decided a chassis change was the best route to rectify the problem.

Changing the chassis without finding any problem is usually done in desperation. I suppose you could say that's what Ferrari has come to over the past few races.

It also means that whilst you are doing that you are not doing anything else to improve your overall car performance. So, in effect, you are standing still and pinning all your hopes on one change. Sometimes it is better to get 100% from what you have rather than 95% from something potentially better.

It could just be that Ferrari decided to do it just to settle the driver's mind. If the driver has lost his confidence, sometimes you just have to make a change to something. I would have thought Vettel was past this point in his career, but I suppose after what has happened over the past few races he is starting to think everything and everyone is out to get him.

In the end he finished second to Hamilton, who once again showed he is at a very different level to the other 19 drivers on the grid. If we were basing our assessment of Mercedes on Valtteri Bottas's performance since the summer break then they would be pretty second rate. But Hamilton just seems to be able to rise to the occasion.

I am not his biggest fan but he really has raised his game this year. When, not if, he wins his fourth drivers' championship, he will deserve it much more than the other three.

As for Ferrari, it came away with the best result it could have expected. But for a team that in qualifying was nip-and-tuck with Mercedes for the first half of the season, and normally better on tyre degradation come race day, it seems to have kept the one-lap performance but thrown away its best asset for race day.

Vettel got the jump at the start but Hamilton did exactly what was required of him. On lap six he closed down the gap and passed Vettel immediately - no hanging around behind him overheating his tyres. He just arrived and passed.

Vettel was complaining of a blistered left-front tyre on lap 12, and after the pass Hamilton more or less just drove away.

Now Hamilton has a lead of 66 points, with only 75 up for grabs, it will take a miracle or three for Vettel to pull that back. All Hamilton has to do is score a few points in each of the last three races and he's done it. But luckily for us, he just wants to win more races so he will be wanting to win this championship with a victory. He will be giving it his all.

Next weekend, we have MotoGP from Malaysia and Formula 1 from Mexico. It's another great weekend to look forward to - and hopefully one in which the phrase 'track limits' doesn't need to be mentioned.