While the headline news around the FIA as the Qatar Grand Prix got under way covered more staffing turmoil, the governing body’s efforts on revising Formula 1’s racing rules was an altogether positive affair.
“That's the best meeting I would say we’ve had,” was Lewis Hamilton’s assessment of the one-hour meeting involving the officials and the drivers.
Based on George Russell’s comment that “just when we've asked for a bit of transparency and consistency, we're getting rid of two highly important people in the governing body”, following the news that Formula 2 race director Janette Tan being was dismissed and senior steward Tim Mayer had been dropped, it seems the drivers are still exasperated with unexplained changes at the governing body.
But they are pleased they are being listened to in other areas, with the results of the discussion on F1’s racing rules in the aftermath of Max Verstappen’s moves against Lando Norris in Austin and Mexico City back in focus.
Now that the FIA has presented its findings into the reassessment of the current ‘Driving Standards Guidelines’ document – as promised back at the Mexican GP – the drivers were inevitably tight-lipped on what the proposals meant for their racing tactics. This is understandable given the need to avoid sign-posting battle intentions that a rival could internalise and one day use against them.
Russell’s position as the only director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association currently racing means his words carry added significance in this debate, but he was also the first to speak to the F1 press corps once the meeting that overran its allotted timeframe had finished.
The Mercedes driver revealed “there is a line of regulation that says the inside driver needs to leave room to the guy on the outside from the apex to the exit” and added, “I think that's going to be getting binned off and I hope it's going to be from this weekend onwards”.
Regarding outside line attacks, he said: “I think the overtaking rules on the outside will not be changing much and I don't think we've really seen much of a problem [with that].”
When pressed on the specifics of the most contentious moves in the 2024 F1 season – Verstappen turning defence into attack on the inside line at Turn 12 at Austin and Turn 4 in Mexico, in both instances against Norris – neither Russell nor Hamilton gave anything away, with the seven-time world champion speaking immediately after his team-mate.
When asked about his actions in those much-discussed moves again on Thursday in Qatar after the Mercedes pair had spoken, Verstappen deflected – arguing the problem instead lies with the track design.
But the revelation so far that the only proposed changes to the guidelines will concern attacking moves from a driver racing on an inside line is in itself concerning. It would theoretically stop a driver being overtaken on the outside from continuing fighting to the extent they make it look like they’ve been run out of road and deserve a penalty, when the pass was actually clean.
But the main problem with the guidelines as they currently stand is that they leave open the encouragement for a driver who is being overtaken, when defending on the inside, to race to make sure they have their wheels ahead at the apex.
This consequently then means their rival on the outside is not entitled to space by the letter of the guideline, but it creates the contentious scenarios witnessed particularly in the Verstappen/Norris Austin Turn 12 clash.
Comparisons with Verstappen’s defending in the same manner against Hamilton at Brazilian GP in 2021 – albeit at much higher speed – stand up, even after the guidelines were introduced in 2022 after a previous push from the drivers on the matter.
But only moving to change the wording of a different scenario suggests such tactics will now remain technically legal, even though there is a strong argument that they go against sporting fairness. Allowing that ambiguity to remain would mean the most debated racing elements of 2024 can be repeated.
The other question on what has been proposed is whether the change regarding attacking on the inside would come into force before the 2024 season ends, as this was part of the reason why the FIA wanted to report back to the drivers in Qatar.
Russell’s words above suggest firm agreement on this was not reached on Thursday.
Autosport understands that the FIA is planning to release a statement on the results of the meeting on Friday, which raises expectations that closure can still be reached. FIA sources have also indicated that the governing body and the drivers are committed to working together to bring clarity to the guidelines and the officiating decisions that stem from them.
But it remains to be seen if this means publishing the updated guidelines publicly, as previously this has been denied to avoid a social media pile-on in the aftermath of clashes.
So far, the drivers seem to be happy, but if they agree to accept the proposed changes, it would then be disingenuous to question the rules the next time there is a flashpoint.
Watch: Turmoil At The FIA, Track Changes And More - F1 Media Day In Qatar
