BUXTON: Simple problems, simple solutions

I didn't want to write about track limits. Again.

But I've just come out of a press conference with Charlie Whiting in which the topic was discussed and, so the FIA hoped, explained. What is in no doubt is that Max Verstappen exceeded track limits to make his last lap move on Kimi Raikkonen in Austin. What remains questionable, however, is why this move was declared illegal but other track limits transgressions were allowed to go without penalty.

The key factor in all this appears to be the FIA's insistence that a "lasting advantage" be shown. Verstappen undeniably benefitted from one. And yet drivers, be it in battles or lapping alone, who improved sector or mini sector times by running wide, were not judged to have gained such a lasting advantage. Call me a pedant, but unless the drivers in question gave back the time advantage they gained by exceeding track limits, then every transgression theoretically fulfils the brief.

Drivers don't leave the racing surface if they will lose time by doing so. This should be obvious to anyone who has ever watched even a lap of motorsport. And yet, thanks to a combination of racing circuits that do not naturally penalize drivers for running off track and a stewarding process complicated by a thousand rules and potential penalties, we have a Pandora's box that shows its true horror every time it is opened.

Our role is to make the sport relatable and understandable. But when even the highest ranking members of the governing body cannot, with any simplicity or hard and fast ruling, explain why a certain set of rules is so, we have a problem.

The FIA has a document in front of it, penned by leading drivers who were requested by the body to investigate the issue and report their findings. In it, they call for a car and a half's width of grass on the extremities of tracks, and as much runoff as anyone wants on the other side. Thus far, the report is collecting dust on a table.

There is an immediate fix however, and it really is simple enough. If the tracks cannot or will not be changed to make running wide an offense in and of itself, then drivers must be penalized every time they run wide. Four wheels off, you're coming through the pits. If it seems harsh and draconian then that is only because the current system has been complicit in allowing weakness.

Until there is one rule for everyone, that covers every eventuality, we will continue to fall into this situation and the topic will rear its head every time something like this happens. Either make the tracks suitable for purpose, or stop the drivers running wide by penalizing infractions. Advantage or not. Perceived or real. Every. Single. Infraction.

If the onus this weekend is on reducing ambiguity, then Dany Kvyat can finally be thankful of that. After a stellar drive on his return to F1 in Austin that saw him score points, he has been dumped for the third and final time. Red Bull's motorsport boss Helmut Marko has confirmed that Dany will not be called upon by the team again. His time in Formula 1, with a Red Bull-backed team at least, is over.

I feel for Dany, I really do. He's a good guy and a solid racer. He's made his own way with no management, and Marko was always a very big fan of his. He was given more chances than most Red Bull drivers, but ultimately his time with the company has come to an end. Many will say he's been treated badly by Red Bull, but at the same time it's impossible to argue he would have made it to F1 without them. Live by the sword, die by the sword. And Dany's career has now suffered a fatal blow.

It is possible to argue that he was rushed into Formula 1 ahead of those on the ladder whose absence ultimately created his final comeback. Red Bull wanted him in the sport due to his nationality, jumping him ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa and ultimately setting in place the domino effect that would result in Sainz and Verstappen making their debuts. And it would be unfair to say he failed. He rose to the challenge and fared incredibly well when pitched alongside Daniel Ricciardo as teammates. But when his head went, the support he needed to pull himself back from the brink was nowhere to be found. He was used as a pawn in the game and suffered the most ill effects of the political nature of a sport in which his own personal management might have better protected him.

But he is free from Red Bull now, and I don't think it will be long until we see him racing again. I know that IndyCar has long been on his radar, and the sport would benefit from a young, hard, fast racer who has been through so much and come out the other side beaten but still fighting. There isn't a person in this paddock who doesn't wish him well in his next career move, wherever it might take him.

Toro Rosso's berths now look to be filled by Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley until at least season's end and, I would proffer, into 2018 as well. It is now a publically known secret that Hartley had inked a deal to race for Ganassi in 2018 in IndyCar, but with Ed Jones sliding out of a handshake deal he had made to return with Dale Coyne next season and into the No.10, one can only assume that Dr Marko and Red Bull have facilitated the New Zealander's move into a full-time F1 seat. He fared brilliantly in Austin, and the next three races will be used to prepare two Toro Rosso rookies for permanent employment in 2018.

One of the men they replace, Carlos Sainz, exceeded all expectations in Austin, almost equalling the team's best result of the season and becoming the first Renault debutant to score in his first race with the outfit since Fernando Alonso's return to the team in 2008. The team is already enamored with the Spaniard, and Red Bull will have been heartened to see just how quick and competitive he was from the outset.

And they may need him. Rumor continues to swirl that Daniel Ricciardo could be Mercedes-bound in 2019 with Lewis Hamilton today confirming that he would love to have the Australian as a teammate in the future. "Daniel is a fantastic driver," he told the press in Mexico this morning, "it would be a privilege to race against him."

Such comments will likely not please the likes of Bottas and Ocon, both of whom would wish to be racing at Mercedes in 2019, but the line-up of Hamilton and Ricciardo at Mercedes into the 2020s is tantilizing.

As for Hamilton, he stands on the edge of a fourth world championship and is being lauded from all angles as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Many, including his boss Toto Wolff, are convinced that Hamilton has not yet peaked either, and that he is set to only continue to grow in confidence, speed and racing perfection over the coming years. There are many who think he will equal Michael Schumacher's seven world crowns by the end of 2020. Amongst their number are those who believe he will go on to eclipse even that record, and that he will place himself as the greatest driver this sport has ever known, be it subjectively or statistically, by the time he hangs up his helmet.

All he has to do is finish fifth or higher on Sunday to become just the fifth driver in this sport's history to take four titles. He has only finished lower than that once this year.

Hamilton himself hopes that his coronation will be on the top step of the podium come Sunday, and told me on Thursday that he has absolutely no intention of seeing anyone else stand above him on the day he takes his crown.

Such a result would be a fitting reward for the Mexican F1 fans, who will turn out this weekend in record numbers. 300,000 tickets have been sold to this weekend's event. That's every ticket available. As Mexico City rebuilds itself following the terrible earthquakes which rocked this historic and magical place to its core just a few months ago, an F1 Fiesta in which a champion is crowned would be no less than the people of this wonderful place deserve.

Oh, and they've stuck huge bumps on the outside of the track.

So there'll be no debate of track limits to dampen their cheers.

Hopefully.