Thanks for the link, ScotsBrutesFan, to the conversation between Anthony Davidson and Michael Masi. I thought Michael dealt with the questions clearly and comes across as keen to establish defined procedures for driving standards.
He does, however, raise some concerns for me. Although I don't entirely disagree with the idea that no contact means a less severe penalty, it is open to a change in attitude by the driver on the receiving end of a move like Leclerc's: had Hamilton chosen not to move himself out onto the grass slightly, they would have collided and he could have helped Leclerc get a penalty, thereby ensuring the race win for himself.
There is therefore now more of an incentive for the driver who feels he is wronged to collide.
That is the first thing that is not conducive to what I would call great racing.
The second thing that does not help lead to great racing is the fact that such moves are now being increasingly tolerated. I refer to this point of gert's:
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Personally I would have preferred the other option where drivers were obliged to give the other car a car's width of racing room (i.e. Verstappen's action on Leclerc would have been wrong, as would have been Lecler's on Hamilton) but I'm OK with this if they keep on being consistent.
Same on-track action, same (lack of) steward action.
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Personally, I am not so in favour of this type of racing because I think that leaving a car's room leads to more exciting racing. What springs to mind is another Monza example - Hamilton on Vettel last year. Vettel left him room and he could conceivably have fought back.
When we see cars side-by-side on compromised lines, we see some fantastic battles. The Toro Rossos in a recent race for several corners is a case in point.
The new problem may not therefore be the lack of consistency, but the lack of a battle as drivers push others wide aggressively in the first instance and accept their black-and-white flag.
Lewis Hamilton has said the following:
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"If that's how we are allowed to race then I will race like that," he stated. "As long as we know that you are allowed to not leave a car width for example, as long as you are not contradicting us and there is a clear message.
"So you are allowed to run wide even if someone is there and you only get a warning flag, and you only need that once to potentially keep the guy behind you
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https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24...lerc-collision
He has been explicit here about what the new gameplan will be for so many. I have no doubt Hamilton will respond in kind to a similar move by Leclerc and others. But it is sad that something may be lost from racing.
It will be compelling to see how this unfolds.