Garry Connelly, Chairman of the FIA Formula 1 Race Stewards praised the “constructive” dialogue held with the 20 F1 drivers in a meeting regarding racing guidelines.
Following flashpoint incidents at the United States and Mexico City Grands Prix, the 20 F1 drivers met with race stewards ahead of the Qatar GP.
Mercedes‘ George Russell, a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association has made repeated calls for a common sense approach to penalising drivers in combat.
“I think a lot of drivers are aligned that if you are the overtaking car on the inside, rule number one is you have to be able to stay on the circuit,” Russell said on Thursday, implying Max Verstappen should have been penalised for his overtaking manoeuvre over Lando Norris at the United States GP.
“I think we all agree the guidelines, they don’t need massive changes,” he added. “I think we just need the odd sentence removed or adjusted.”
F1 river meeting with FIA stewards ‘the most productive ever’
Following the meeting between the drivers and stewards, Connelly was supremely positive with the outcome.
“The meeting was the most productive one we’ve [ever] attended,” Connelly admitted.
“The drivers were fantastic with their input. Very constructive. There was not one negative comment. There was no finger-pointing.
“It was very inspiring to see the world’s best drivers, communicating clearly and speaking constructively on how we can improve the Driving Standards Guidelines to the benefit of the drivers and to make all of our jobs easier.”
Connelly expressed his opinion that the relationship between the stewards must be collaborative, not “us against the drivers,” highlighting the need for an “open-door policy.”
He explained that “As Stewards, we are not here to inflict pain on drivers. We’re here to provide a level playing field.
“It’s not us against the drivers, it’s the drivers against the drivers and we’re here to make sure everyone gets a fair go.
“We have an open-door policy. The door to the Stewards’ room is always open to any driver who wants to come up and talk to us about a decision that’s been taken either in relation to them or in relation to any other driver.
“We think Thursday’s meeting emphasised that open-door policy.”
F1 Racing Guidelines constantly evolving
As Russell said, the F1 drivers aren’t looking for wholesale changes to the racing guidelines, merely the “odd sentence removed or adjusted” and this is an opinion shared by Connelly.
“The Driving Standards Guidelines are a living document, so every year, as the F1 Stewards we try to meet with the drivers, sporting directors and FIA representatives, to see if we need to tweak the guidelines to use the experience of the last 12 months and see what improvements we can make to ensure consistency,” he said.
“The goal of the guidelines is consistency.
“As Stewards, if drivers and teams and the FIA agree that they want rules or guidelines to allow more aggressive driving, we’ll apply those rules or guidelines.
“Likewise, if they want stricter driving standards, we’ll apply those.
FIA’s Single-Seater Sporting Director Tim Malyon said that meetings such as the in Qatar are typically held “at least once a year, sometimes twice a year, depending on the topics that arise,” adding, “this year we’ve timed this meeting following the constructive discussions in Mexico and Austin.”
FIA will explore further F1 circuit alterations to appease driver concerns
Verstappen, along with several other drivers has called for circuit alterations to combat the issue of racing beyond track limits.
His clash with Norris in the United States GP, whereby both drivers went wide at Turn 12 of the Circuit of the Americas was facilitated by the huge tarmac run-off.
“I think it more has to do with the track layout,” Verstappen said.
“You know, in some places you just have a lot of run off, and that creates already a lot of issues, so that’s something that we have to work on for the future anyway.”
Maylon noted “As the FIA, we work continuously with circuits to evolve in many ways.
“Obviously, we are working on the safety aspect of circuits. But what that meeting highlighted is that there are a number of considerations on the sporting side, which we can prioritise for circuits going forward.
“As we have done this year, we introduced the gravel traps, starting in Austria, and obviously, with this weekend being perhaps the most obvious with gravel traps added in a in a number of places.
“We continue to work with circuits on all topics, but it was very useful in yesterday’s meeting to get the insight of the drivers and see how they prioritize the gravel track concept, not only for track limits, but also for managing some of the situations that have arisen with overtaking during the course of the last four or five races.
“In all, there was a commitment to work together to find solutions that work for everyone.”
During the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring, 2.5m wide gravel traps were added to Turns 9 and 10 to combat track limits abuses and similar methods have been adopted throughout the year, including around the Lusail International Circuit for this weekend’s Qatar GP.
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