George Russell expresses concern over recent FIA layoffs, criticizing the lack of transparency and consistency, and questioning who will be dismissed next.
Russell expresses concern over the situation at the FIA, where Mohammed Ben Sulayem is effectively purging senior staff. Two more individuals were dismissed this week for trivial reasons, and the president of the F1 drivers’ association is worried.
The British driver, however, is pleased to see progress in the discussions with Formula 1 and the FIA regarding the rewriting of certain on-track maneuver directives.
“It was productive because I don’t think much needs to change. Some strange phrases needed to be removed, like the one about leaving racing room when overtaking on the inside, for which I was penalized in Austin,” said Russell.
“Many drivers agree that if you’re the car overtaking on the inside, the number one rule is that you must be able to stay on track. If you can stay on track, you have the right to push the other driver off, just like we’ve all done since go-karting.”
“You want to see fierce battles. You want to see drivers fighting wheel to wheel. It’s impressive when people go into the gravel and sparks fly. I think the stewards recognize that.”
“If you’re on the outside and get overtaken, it’s your responsibility to give way. Right now, there’s a line in the regulations saying the inside driver must leave space for the outside driver from the apex to the exit. That line will be removed, and I hope that will happen this weekend.”
“There was nothing in the directives about Max [Verstappen]’s moves. If you dive-bomb and go off track, it’s out of control. So everyone agrees, we don’t need to turn everything upside down and rewrite the rulebook. It’s clearly positive.”
Despite the positive discussions on this matter, Russell expresses concern over the uncertainty surrounding the FIA and the numerous dismissals enforced by its president: “But at the same time, someone else has been fired, and we’re asking for transparency and consistency. But there is neither transparency nor consistency. And we’ll have to see who’s next!”
On the issue of track limits, the Mercedes F1 driver explains that the main complaint from drivers is the design of the circuits: “We also concluded that most of these problems are due to the circuits.”
“We discussed a number of issues in Austin, and I think many overtakes wouldn’t have even been attempted if there had been gravel, like at Turn 4 in Austria.”
“The circuits are the root cause, and the directives are more of a temporary solution we need to agree on until we can set up all the circuits properly.”
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Russell Criticizes FIA Layoffs: Calls for Transparency
Russell Criticizes FIA Layoffs: Calls for Transparency
