Our insider hears what Lewis Hamilton and F1 drivers think about FIA guidelines

The public release of F1’s revised racing guidelines dominated much of the paddock chatter during media day at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Here’s how some of the drivers reacted to the FIA’s move to try and be more transparent after a flurry of controversial penalties and racing incidents over the last year.

F1’s governing body stressed the guidelines are not regulatory, but rather to help clarify which driver has priority during wheel-to-wheel battles…

Have the guidelines made racing less natural?

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said he has not been following the racing guidelines and is instead approaching wheel-to-wheel combat with “natural feel”.

“I'm not driving to those guidelines, if I'm being honest. I'm just driving what I feel naturally,” the Ferrari driver said.

"But of course, the FIA, the stewards have a tough job. Every racing manoeuvre looks different. I think having some sort of boundaries is good. I've not really had any problems in terms of... they've not affected me so far.

“I don't know what other people think of them. It is interesting just each year. Different people come in and different people come up with different things.

“Year on year on year. Some of them are good, some of them are not so good. I don't want to judge it just yet.”

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly shares a similar view: “To me personally, I don’t feel that way. I think you go hard racing and you know where the limit is. There is mutual respect with other drivers and that’s the limit of the environment, and you try to push it to the absolute limit. Sometimes you go slightly over it.

“Now, the way we penalise is another question – whether some of the penalties are too strong, not strong enough, etc. This is another conversation. But in the way that we go racing wheel-to-wheel, it feels natural.”

Max Verstappen, who is one point away from a race ban and must navigate this weekend at the Red Bull Ring cleanly, was not keen to offer his opinion on the matter.

“I’m not going to comment on that, I cannot risk getting a penalty point!” Red Bull’s four-time world champion quipped.

Guidelines shouldn’t be taken as ‘black and white’

McLaren’s world championship leader Oscar Piastri stressed the importance that the guidelines are not treated as gospel.

“Obviously, there are still degrees of factors that can’t really be written down,” Piastri said.

“Every situation is different, but I think it at least gives us as drivers some clarity on what is and isn’t allowed. There have probably been some tweaks since they came out- I can’t remember when they came out exactly, but maybe in the last 18 months or so.

“It’s just important that people don’t treat them as black and white - this is what needs to happen, this is what isn’t going to happen - because even if you wrote 10 pages of lines and a driver’s going to find a grey area just from the situation you end up in.

“So I think it’s important to recognise that and not jump to conclusions like, “it says this in this sentence, so this is what should happen.” It’s still in the Stewards’ hands.”

Esteban Ocon faced an investigation for allegedly driving erratically at the pit exit against Carlos Sainz’s Williams during the Canadian Grand Prix, but the stewards ultimately opted no further acton was warranted following a post-race investigation.

The Haas driver thinks the amount of rules in F1 creates complexities.

“There are a lot of rules, that’s for sure. I think the racing aspect is quite straightforward for us and very clear, but it’s all the little side things - like what happened, for example, at the exit of the pit lane with that double yellow flag with me and Carlos,” he explained.

“That was not that straightforward and a bit of a surprise for all of us. That caught Carlos by surprise as well. So yeah, it’s all these little things on top of an already complicated situation that can lead to difficult scenarios and going to the Stewards and having long decisions and all of this.

“In the end, I think the FIA took all the right decisions. They knew it was side things and small things not leading to any consequences. It was quite straightforward before I went to the FIA’s room, but it's always a stressful moment - especially when you get a result which means something. The next three hours after the race were quite long for me and the team.”

Time for permanent stewards?

Mercedes driver George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), once again suggested that F1 should introduce a fully-paid, permanent panel of stewards.

“I think now that it is public, there will be more opinions being thrown around. My personal view is, and as we've stated a few times in the past, the stewards are still volunteers,” Russell said.

“We have 20 different stewards over the course of a season, all of which have got a huge amount of racing knowledge, but all have very slightly different interpretations of an incident, the same way as drivers have very slightly different interpretations of incidents.

“So I still believe the best course would be to have fully-paid professional stewards, a consistent panel, and potentially even slightly reducing those driver guidelines because ultimately those guidelines are there to assist the stewards in the decision making.

“And if you have one steward who's only doing one in every four races, they need that sort of guidance. Whereas if you've got a consistent three or four individuals, we will know their viewpoint, they will know our viewpoint, and you can judge each incident slightly more on how it happens as opposed to what the letter of the law is written.” 

‘Creating a contact sport’

Williams driver Alex Albon thinks there is still room for improvement after being on the receiving end of a penalty following a recent clash with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in Spain.

"I don't like how we're racing at the moment,” Albon told media including Crash.net. "Barcelona Turn 1 was a good example of that.

"If the other car squeezes you off and releases the brake pedal and gives you no space to go, it's true that it's their corner. But obviously, at that point you've committed so late into the corner, the only thing you can do is exit the track and take a cut-off.

"I had the same issue in Canada. If I turn in on that car that's releasing the brake pedal on the inside, and he makes contact to me, then he gets the penalty. So, if I turn in, even though I know it's not possible and I know that he's going to hit me, then that benefits me. So, you're creating a contact sport.

"What I feel like I've been doing is getting out of the way for the other car and avoiding the crash, but then actually got penalised for doing so."