New Max Verstappen-Oscar Piastri overtake theory aired: 'Very different era'

Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri's first-corner incident at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has brought the debate surrounding racing guidelines and driving standards back into sharp focus.

Tensions on the subject came to a head towards the end of last season in the midst of numerous clashes involving the Dutchman and McLaren's other driver, Lando Norris.

With the issue front and centre, drivers agreed on how they wanted wheel-to-wheel racing to be policed and enforced.

It included that the driver on the inside is within their right to force the car on the outside wide, as long as they have correctly claimed the apex of the corner.

But, in the wake of the first lap incident at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Verstappen's prior on-track skirmishes were used as a reference point to be benchmarked.

However, Jonathan Wheatley does not believe any two incidents in F1 are alike, no matter how similar they might at first appear.

The Stake team principal pointed out that he cannot recall witnessing "two identical incidents" given how "dynamic" overtaking in F1 is.

"I don't think I've ever seen two identical incidents," the former Red Bull sporting director told media, including RacingNews365. "Such a dynamic situation, overtaking.

"You've got to take into account the tyre compounds, you've got to take into account if somebody's got the run on another driver, you've got to take into account if a driver's got DRS and another driver doesn't have DRS.

"And then through all of that, and all of the gamesmanship that goes on, you have to pick a braking point. And once you've picked a braking point, they've picked it."

Adapting to 'very different' regulations

Wheatley's remarks came in response to being asked if he felt the rules surrounding overtaking were as good as they can ever be.

Drawing on his experience, the Briton highlighted how the guidelines need to retain an element of flexibility and the potential to change and develop over time - as they have over the winter, and may need to again next year.

With a new era of F1 regulations looming, Wheatley underlined how different overtaking, and by extension on track incidents, could look next season.

"There's been situations where I've had conversations with drivers I've worked with [and] said, 'Look, you could have given him another two centimetres there, and it would have made the stewards' life a bit easier... The stewards have to decide from this if you've left a car's width' and what have you," he explained.

"I love that element of the sport, and I think the FIA and the drivers have worked really hard on the sort of racing rules that they're working to at the moment... as long as we're open-minded and they're evolving as the cars change.

"Who knows what the '26 cars are going to be like. We don't know what overtaking manoeuvres are going to look like in '26.

"What we do know is that the ones now are very different than they were when we had simpler power trains."