✨ Read this insightful post from BBC Sport 📖
📂 Category:
💡 Main takeaway:
Sainz said there had been a number of incidents this year in which drivers were penalized for incidents that did not warrant a penalty, including three incidents involving Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in the Dutch Grand Prix, with Haas’ Oliver Pearman in Italy and Antonelli in Austin.
“I didn’t understand my penalty at Zandvoort,” Sainz said at a media day ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
“I didn’t understand why Ole got a penalty when we crashed at Monza. He didn’t deserve that penalty and I told him as soon as I got out of the race. I didn’t understand how I got 10 seconds in Austin. Then the situation in Brazil.
“There have been not one but several incidents this year which to me are a far cry from where the sport should be.”
The drivers are due to hold a meeting with FIA stewards at the next race in Qatar in order to review what Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon described as a “list” of incidents they feel need to be reviewed.
“It’s very clear to me that after what I saw in Brazil, this is something that’s not going to quite work if we have to judge this as a 10-second penalty for a guy who had no fault in anything he did,” Sainz said.
The problem lies in the way the flight attendants interpret the driving standards guidelines, external Issued by the International Automobile Federation at the beginning of the year.
It has been written after consultation with drivers but has not been approved by the GPDA prior to publication.
The general feeling among drivers is that the guidelines are being strictly enforced, without applying common sense and experience to how wheel-to-wheel racing works.
Piastri was penalized because he had not complied at all times with the requirement that his front axle be at least next to Antonelli’s wing mirror in the lead-up to the accident, and locked up his brakes so he was deemed out of control.
But Sainz said he was “struggling” with the way supervisors interpreted locked brakes.
“Whenever we see a shutdown, the host immediately interprets it as out of control,” he said. “Closing down doesn’t always mean getting out of control. You can shut down and still come out on top.
“I’m locked up in Austin as a reaction to the move Kimi made and Oscar is locked up in Brazil as a reaction as well.
“It wasn’t like we were out of control and we were going to miss the break and cause a huge accident. So I think the way those lockouts are interpreted in terms of being out of control is also something that needs to be reconsidered.”
Mercedes driver George Russell, a fellow GPDA director, said: “There is little wording or view that if a car is locked, it will be considered out of control.
“This corner in Brazil is completely cambered inside the corner, the inside of the car will always be unloaded, and this tire is not even on the ground, so this tire is locked but you are in complete control.
“That’s why there have to be guidelines and you have to approach every corner, every track and every incident completely differently.”
Russell said the FIA should appoint a permanent group of supervisors to improve the situation.
Albon added: “There is no ignorance in the FIA’s approach to it. There is an open mindedness: OK, please, let’s work on this together and find a solution.”
“It’s not a ‘you versus us’ approach. We appreciate that as drivers. Will a clear set of rules be reached? I’m not sure.”
⚡ What do you think?
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