George Russell says the FIA will adjust its Formula 1 driving standards guidelines for 2025 after meeting with drivers.
The change follows concerns expressed by several drivers over the stewards’ handling of some incidents this year, notably Lando Norris’s penalty for overtaking Max Verstappen off the track in Austin, after he was forced wide by the Red Bull driver.
Since the start of the 2022 season, stewards have relied on a set of ‘driving standards guidelines’ to help them assess racing incidents, providing a general framework for their decisions. Verstappen in particular has been criticised for his so-called ‘divebomb’ defence which relies on him being ahead of rivals at the apex of corners to deny having to leave space for them at corner exit.
After F1 drivers met with FIA stewards, Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, said new updates for 2025 will include a revision to outlaw ‘divebomb’ defending.
“I don’t think a lot needed to be changed,” Russell told the official F1 website. “I think there was maybe the odd sentence that needed to be gotten rid of. Such as if you were overtaking on the inside, you need to leave a car’s width apex-to-exit, hence why I got the penalty in Austin.
“There wasn’t necessarily anything in the guidelines about Max’s manoeuvre: If you divebomb and go off the track, that is effectively out of control. So everybody’s in agreement with [changing] these things.
“It’s not like turning the thing upside down and rewriting the whole rulebook. I think just the odd thing needed to be changed and I think that’s been positive.”
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The GPDA published an open letter to the governing body earlier this month calling for more transparency from the organisation and its president, Mohammed ben Sulayem. In the weeks following, the FIA changed F1’s race director and also dropped regular steward Tim Mayer.
“Obviously, in the meantime, someone else has just been sacked,” Russell said. “So just when we’re asking for a bit of transparency and consistency, there’s no transparency and there’s no consistency. So let’s see who the next one is.”
Russell’s team mate Lewis Hamilton was pleased with the discussions. “The meeting was really, really productive with the stewards,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve really sat down and really had a real clear, open discussion with the stewards who have such a difficult job to do over the weekend.
“Every overtake and every scenario is so different to the others. There’s nothing that’s going to change for these next two races. But for next year we’re working on the process. We welcome having more conversations with them moving forwards because we want to help them do a better job, and they welcomed that.”
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