Ex-F1 driver and three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Hans-Joachim Stuck has said that all the drivers on the grid today need to “step on the gas” instead of “snitching” on one another.
With track limits being as strict as they are, it is a regular occurrence at every Grand Prix to hear some of the drivers tell their team if someone in front or behind exceeded the limits, in an attempt to get them a penalty.
In qualifying, if a driver exceeds the track limits then their lap-time is deleted, whereas in the race they are usually given a time penalty after pushing the circuit limits too many times.
The likes of George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have all been heard this season ‘grassing’ on another driver, something Stuck believes needs to stop.
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“I don’t agree with what they’re doing because of the track limits,” Stuck, a former F1 driver and three-time Le Mans winner, said.
“I won’t name names, but I wouldn’t say over the radio that this driver or that driver has exceeded the track limits. That’s pure snitching,” he said, alluding to comments made by Lewis Hamilton about Max Verstappen in Austin.
“The boys should instead step on the gas. That’s my opinion,” he added.
“The drivers don’t have to go to have a coffee after the race – because they’re racing! And sometimes you just have to let the race be a race.”
2021 was really the year when complaints over the radio increased, perhaps as a result of the intense battle that was played out between Red Bull and Mercedes.
Both Hamilton and Max Verstappen informed their race engineers of every little thing they believed one another to have done, with the 2021 races at Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi having been the pinnacle of that.
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Without a doubt the pettiness has carried over into this season; however, at least nothing is now said between the team principals and the race director.
Russell has by far complained the most on the radio this season, with the Brit having complained about other drivers hitting him as well as them exceeding the limits.
The former Williams drivers was told to get on with it by Toto Wolff at the French Grand Prix, after complaining several times that Sergio Pérez forced him off the road.