Toro Rosso drivers have highlighted their frustration with the Formula 1 officiating system, calling for more consistency in decisions made by FIA race stewards during races.
Sainz was given a five seconds penalty for an incident involving McLaren’s Fernando Alonso during the early stages of the Mexican Grand Prix.
He said, “I’ve seen less for more. I heard that there were very similar situations with mine and Fernando’s incident and that there were no penalties. This is what Formula 1 needs to understand, either to look at it incident by incident or to put a fixed rule.
“Nowadays it is difficult to know what will happen to you if you do a certain move that is a tiny bit on the limit. It’s a bit of a lottery to get a penalty or not. Us drivers need to race with a very clear thing in mind when we overtake a guy.”
F1 has three FIA appointed officials acting as ‘umpires’ at each grand prix, including an experienced former driver and assisted by an official appointed by the hosting country’s National Sporting Authority.
The officials are changed from race to race and this is where, according to Sainz, the root of the inconsistencies lie.
“I’ve said my whole Formula 1 career [we need regular officials]. It’s understandable – humans are humans – you will have a different opinion to me, so every race [now] there will be very different opinions.”
“At the moment we never know what to expect about a move or after an accident After seeing Fernando on the grass in Mexico do they give me a penalty or do they think it was a great move? [With regular stewards] probably the criteria will be a lot closer every weekend,” added the Spaniard.
In Mexico, Kvyat was also recipient of a five-second penalty for leaving the track while overtaking Haas driver Romain Grosjean.
Kvyat echoed Sainz’s comments, “They are really inconsistent these guys. I’m very unhappy with how they make the decisions to be honest. There’s really no consistency, no anything. Massa and Alonso in Austin, and me and Grosjean here – a completely different reaction. I disagree with that but I have no influence in this anymore.”
Drivers meet on the eve of each grand prix to discuss racing matters with officials, but Kvyat scoffs at the idea of bringing the matter up at such a meeting, “To be honest I find it a bit boring to talk about this, it’s a big waste of time. Everybody is talking about it and, what is the result? They still do the same.”
“In those briefings, they talk, talk, talk, I don’t want to waste my time for this because they are going to do their own thing anyway. Honestly I don’t have a clear clue on how they should do these things. Gravel traps is a good solution, like someone suggested I think,” added Kvyat.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has also voiced his dissatisfaction with F1 officialdom here>>>
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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