Verstappen and Sainz reflect on the FIA’s discussions with the drivers over Formula 1’s racing rules

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Max Verstappen says “nothing changes” for him after Formula 1 drivers and the FIA sat down to discuss tweaks to the series’ racing guidelines.

In Friday’s driver meeting at the Mexican Grand Prix, drivers were seeking answers from the governing body on how racing incidents are judged and whether F1’s current guidelines on driver standards are still fit for purpose.

The trigger for the discussion was Verstappen’s fight with Lando Norris at last week’s US GP, in which McLaren driver Norris was penalised for overtaking Verstappen off the track, but the Red Bull man went unpunished for pushing both cars off in the first place.

It was discussed whether Verstappen should have been punished as well, or whether the Dutchman was in the right but exploiting a loophole that went against fair racing.

Following discussions, the FIA agreed to revisit the guidelines in time for the Qatar GP at the end of November.

But, as far as world champion Verstappen is concerned, he won’t change his approach until told otherwise.

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“For me, in terms of racing, nothing changes,” he said. “Look, the rules can always be better, you should always strive for that, right? It’s never perfect. I understand that.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battle into turn 1

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

“But I think, where the problem starts is that on that track you can very easily just drive offline. And if there’s just a gravel pit, you never get into that situation either, because the car on the outside never brakes that late as there’s obviously the risk of going off. And the same on the inside, because then you always go in more carefully, so you never have that scenario.

“On certain circuits with a lot of run-off that is a problem and of course the FIA sees that too. They might also want to, like in Austria, put in a few gravel traps. That does help.”

Asked if he felt there was a move by rival drivers aimed specifically at curbing how he races, Verstappen said: ‘No. I just think they want to know themselves [what the rules are].”

Ferrari’s Mexico GP polesitter Carlos Sainz is hopeful that the solutions the FIA is working on for Qatar will improve the racing and lead to less confusion among drivers about what is allowed and what isn’t.

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

“How you interpret the rules and those driving guidelines that 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 I think in Qatar we will have some solutions that hopefully will offer a better understanding for the driver and better racing in general. Hopefully it should be better.”