Sainz sheds light on ‘productive’ drivers’ meeting with FIA

Carlos Sainz says that F1’s drivers enjoyed an overall “productive and positive” meeting with the FIA last Friday at the Mexico City Grand Prix where the all-important topic of racing rules was tabled.

In addition to the drivers usual Friday evening briefing with race director Niels Wittich, the meeting was extended to include the Mexico City Grand Prix stewards, each team’s sporting director and representative from Formula One Management.

The meeting focused primarily on the recent clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the US Grand Prix, on the former’s defensive tactics and on how racing rules are interpreted, especially

The two protagonists in Austin reportedly argued their respective cases, to the group and to one another, while the FIA acknowledged the need to tweak racing’s guidelines.

While some drivers perceived the FIA’s willingness to revise regulations as an “admission of guilt,” Sainz offered a more optimistic viewpoint.

“I think it was a positive, productive meeting,” Sainz claimed. “I think a lot of drivers opened up about how they felt about each situation and what we think is the best way forward.

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“How you interpret the rules and those driving guidelines the stewards are going to apply penalties with… they’re still the same coming into this weekend and probably I think they will be applied in a similar manner.

“But moving forward it was a productive meeting and I think in Qatar we will have some solutions that will offer better understanding for the driver and better racing in general.

“Hopefully it should be better.”

Charles Leclerc also weighed in, noting the collective desire for improvement.

“I’m not going to go too much into the detail of what’s discussed inside, but we are all willing to improve some of the scenarios we have seen in Austin because I don’t think we were all on the same line on that,” commented the Monegasque.

“However, the FIA has been very open to discussion, and I think they've admitted that we've got to change a few things.

“Going forward we'll try and help them in order to take better decisions and to have tracks that maybe don't allow as much controversy as Austin does.

“Because if you've got a bit of a gravel trap or a kerb in some corners, it will make everybody's life easier, but it's the way it is.”

GPDA director George Russell said the FIA wanted to wait until the 2025 season to implement changes to its guidelines. But an overwhelming majority of drivers saw little point in differing the changes.

“I think the biggest discussion is [the FIA] wanted to wait until ’25, so it’s something consistent through this year,” said the Mercedes driver, quoted by Motorsport Week.

“I would say 19 out of 20 drivers said, ‘well, if it’s incorrect, make the change today’.

“You presume [it should be easy to change if everyone agrees], but it sometimes seems more difficult than it has to be when things have to get approved and we’ve got to go to a vote app.

“But as I said, 19 out of 20, we’re all aligned on where it needs to be.”

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