Drivers met with FIA officials, including Race Director Michael Masi, ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix to discuss racing rules after Max Verstappen’s controversial defense against Lewis Hamilton in Brazil.
The Red Bull driver lost the track while defending his lead from championship rivals Hamilton at Turn 4 of the Interlagos circuit.
Hamilton said after meeting Masi that the racing rules remained unclear and that “every driver, I think, expect Max, just asked for clarity”.
Masi said in Qatar that the rules had been “made clear” to drivers, although he admitted that some disagreed with them.
Ferrari driver Sainz joined the group of drivers who still find the regulations a bit confusing, but expects further discussions after the season to improve things.
“As far as the approach to the race is concerned, it’s not entirely clear yet,” said Sainz after the Qatar GP. “I think you’ve heard us talk about it because we don’t know exactly what will happen race after race.
“But as I told the media after yesterday, it looks like there will be a deeper discussion about our way of racing in the winter that should hopefully clear things up a bit more.”
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
McLaren driver Lando Norris said that while some aspects of the racing rules have been clarified, others are still vague.
“I think some things are a little clearer and some are not,” he said. “I think what is clear is that … not every incident will be the same, even if it looks the same, so it is difficult to know the different circumstances.
“But I think most things have been cleared up. But it’s hard to ever come up with a point and say that you can and can’t do it.”
When asked if he would change his approach to battles on the track after the meeting, Norris said, “I mean no. A little bit. There are a couple of things that you might want to adjust.
“I don’t think you’d change the way, or we’d change the way we race or anything, but yeah, you might just adjust a few things that you might or might not do now can. I don’t think you’d change a lot. “
Alpine Fernando Alonso, one of the drivers who criticized the stewards’ inconsistency this year, said Formula One rules must be “black and white”.
“I think we all agree, we need more consistency, we need black and white rules because when they are gray,” he said.
“Sometimes you have the feeling that you benefit from them, and sometimes you were the bad guy or the idiot on the track again. It’s better if it’s in black and white.
“Let’s see if we can improve overall. I think it’s not just an FIA problem, it’s drivers, teams, FIA, everything we need to work together to have a better rule.”
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