Thread by @NorthHertsSam

I decided to take a bit of a longer look at the track limits goings on at T4 during the #F1 #BahrainGP yesterday. There is a bit more to this than I think some people have picked up on. /Thread.

On Friday - after Free Practice the rules relating to track limits at T4 were changed. "Advantage" in terms of 27.3 here means overtaking or defending not lap time. This document was circulated to teams and drivers. /2

Once the #BahrainGP got underway, every single driver in the field exploited the exit of Turn 4 pretty much every lap. Here you can see @yukitsunoda07 and @Charles_Leclerc doing just that. /3

Here you can see Max Verstappen crossing the white line too, exceeding track limits to improve his lap time, same as Hamilton, same as everyone else. He does this almost every lap. It is allowed due to section 21.2(a) of the race directors notes. /4

A key difference with what Hamilton was doing was how far off he was going at Turn 4. He was consistently further off than most other cars. /5

Red Bull later noticed this and radioed Verstappen to tell him he could do the same, Verstappen asked how it was legal, but started to do it too. /6

Curiously @SChecoPerez who wasn't using much run off at T4 at all through the race was not given the same info as Verstappen to allow him to use the exit of T4 like Hamilton. So he didn't. This may have cost him time. (Bottas also didn't get a radio call on this) /7

On Lap 36-37 Hamilton gets calls from the team that he needs to be careful on track limits. He asks what the rule actually is as he thought that there were no track limits at T4. Team tell him to do it like qualifying. So he does (after saying it is BS) /8

Verstappen was then also told to "stick to the track limits" so he went back to what he was doing before, crossing the white line still but not by as much as Hamilton had been doing, but by more than Hamilton now was. /9

So it seems to me that race control deemed crossing the white line at T4 acceptable, but decided part way through the race that Hamilton was crossing the line by too much (and by then also Verstappen). Possibly as a result of queries from Red Bull. /10

It is clear then that crossing the white line at T4 was acceptable through the entire race. What was not clear was how far over you could go before it was unacceptable and that did seem to change during the race. I think this needs to be more tightly defined. /11

If it was as simple as all four wheels off is unacceptable, then that is fine, but it would could have changed the race result. Clear regulations are essential. /12

Hamilton correctly pushed the rules, Red Bull did not. Had they done so they might have won the race. I'm a little surprised at the mid race change in defining what is acceptable as it then left the leading drivers not entirely certain of what was acceptable. /13

So what about Max's pass on Hamilton? thats simple and not related to all this. You cannot overtake by going off the track. This is covered here: /ends

Just a quick addition to this as some people are still confused. The red & white kerb was the limit in practice, in the race the white line was the limit.