Verstappen and Leclerc call for 'leniency' after F1 rule change

Max Verstappen's call for leniency over Formula 1'srecently-imposed minimum lap-time rule in qualifying has beenbacked up by Charles Leclerc. At the Italian Grand Prix, in a bidto prevent dangerous closing speeds between cars on a flying lapand those on a slow lap, the FIA introduced a minimum lap-time thatall cars must follow and not exceed. However, while this solved theproblem of traffic on track, drivers started to back up in thepit-lane to create gaps on their out-laps as they prepare the car,with Verstappen one such driver to be called to the stewards forimpeding in the pit-lane. While both drivers feel the rule is astep in the right direction, they believe leniency in the pit-lanecould be factored in by stewards. "It's all imperfect at themoment" Verstappen told media including RacingNews365. "We need tocome up with something else, but it's hard. The thing I don'tunderstand is like everyone is trying to make a gap now in the pitlane, which is the only place where we can do it so, I don't reallyunderstand how you can be impeding someone. "For me, I think wehave to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing that it's asafe environment. I mean, we're driving really slow, it's the onlyplace where we can make a gap because, I mean, we drive out of thebox and, of course, we in the beginning of the pit-lane, we didn'tknow, of course, what other people are doing, so, you areconstantly, of course, then trying to judge a gap. "You don't wantto start a lap within three-to-four seconds of someone, becausethat's really bad for following. But, on the other hand, if wewouldn't have had this kind of minimum lap time, then maybe youhave some impeding into the last sector again, so it's just allquite tough, I guess, to find a good compromise." Leclerc backed upVerstappen's call, and pointed to the final sector ofSpa-Francorchamps as a particular danger. "[I have a]very similarthinking," the Monegasque explained. "I think the biggest thingthat we got rid of is the dangerous situation especially in lastsector. "In Spa, for example, sometimes we will have differences ofspeed between cars that will be crazy, and with that, I think it'sbeen quite a good solution for that. "On the other hand, it hascreated other problems that are not great.'