Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix stewards have issued a statement to all teams and drivers to try to avoid a repeat of the opening lap shenanigans of last year’s race.
Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton went four-wide into Turn 1 on the first lap in 2025, with both Verstappen and Leclerc cutting across the grass.
Leclerc initially emerged comfortably in the lead but lifted off into the Turn 4 left-hander and allowed Norris ahead.
In fact, a fifth of the grid cut the track at Turn 1 – as Kimi Antonelli, Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson also took the grass route.
This left George Russell, who had a front-row seat behind the top four on lap one, furious after the race as he said: “I just struggle to understand how three guys can just cut the corner and maintain their position. They got it wrong, they brake too late, they made a mistake.
“But then they can just cut the corner and continue, and there was no punishment for their mistake.
“So I was pretty pissed off with that to start with and then, when Max went off the track at Turn 4, came back on, and it was wrong place, wrong time for me but, again, that should’ve been penalised as well.”
Russell will be pleased to know the stewards have proactively issued clarification of how the driving standard guidelines will be applied on the first lap in Mexico this year.
“On lap one and the first lap after any resumption [after a safety car or red flag], in Turns 1 to 3, and Turns 4 to 6, all cars will, by default, be considered as both attacking and defending,” they wrote.
“Thus, in line with existing guidelines, any car leaving the track in these areas and maintaining a position to a car or cars within close proximity behind (as determined by the stewards) may be considered as gaining a lasting advantage, unless such position is yielded by Turn 4 [in the case of a car leaving the track in the area of Turns 1 to 3], or by Turn 12 [in the case of a car leaving the track in the area of Turns 4 to 6.]”
That sets very clear guidelines for where drivers have to yield positions for Sunday’s race and it’s that cutting the track to “maintain a position to a car or cars within close proximity behind” that’s crucial.
It means you can be punished not only for overtaking another driver by going off track, but if you avoid losing a position by cutting the corner.
