It goes without saying that racers are a competitive bunch. There can be some great camaraderie and rivalries on and off the track. The nice thing about racing is that it’s not subjective in the fact that the driver that crosses the finish line first is the winner. There is a sage old saying in this sport, “To finish first, you must first finish.” Sometimes that doesn’t happen because of “real estate” disputes. In other words, two (or more) drivers are going for the same piece of real estate (usually the corners) at the same time. Whose corner is it? How far alongside do you need to be to claim it? What sacrifices in racing line whether blocking (defensive line) or squeezing (forcing the other car into an unfavorable place make the difference into who demands that the corner is theirs?

     Hey, if it was all cut and dry there would be no controversy, hard feelings or polar opposite differences of opinion. In most racing organizations it is up to the overtaking driver to make a safe pass. However, that doesn’t take responsibility away from the driver (getting passed) to make sure he or she gives the other driver racing room. This is where it gets complicated. Technically one could give another driver enough room (barely and totally off the racing line) but that typically doesn’t lead to pleasant outcomes. As long as two cars/drivers are charging into the same corner at the same time, chances are only one of them is going to come out the better of it. For a perfect example of this, just do a video search for the “Hamilton Verstappen Crash.” At the time of this writing there were more than 3 million views of this Formula One video.

     If you’re on the receiving end of that, you and your team will not be happy. If you’re on the “giving” end of that, you won’t find anything wrong with what you did. This is the typical scenario.

     The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) GCR (general competition rules), has been recently updated to include Appendix P which is six pages strictly focused on passing. It clearly states and shows with drawings how to stay out of trouble, how to figure out who is to blame for contact and how likely a certain move will lead to success or failure. On paper, that’s all good, but when the action is taking place at high speed with only milliseconds to make decisions, real estate disputes are going to happen. So in the case of Hamilton vs. Verstappen, whose fault was it? Sometimes it can be both. What do you think in this case? 

Copyright © 2021 Larry Mason