Home

F1

F1 Drivers Unanimously Disagree Against ‘Trick’ Changes

Published 09/26/2019, 12:59 PM EDT

Follow Us

In the wake of suggested changes to the race weekend format, a number of F1 drivers have spoked out against it. So far, Liberty Media has discussing trialling reverse grids at future races. However, none of the drivers are too thrilled about ‘gimmicks’, even on a limited basis.

The first dissenters were Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend. Hamilton observed, “The people that proposed that don’t really know what they are talking about.”

Meanwhile, Vettel was far most blunt in his response saying that reverse grids were “complete bullshit to be honest.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Ahead of the Russian Grand prix 2019, the other drivers were asked about their opinions. Needless to say, everyone echoed Hamilton and Vettel’s sentiments on the matter at hand.

“I think it is a Band-Aid,” admitted Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. “It is not a fix to the real problem.”

via Imago

Furthermore Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director Romain Grosjean told Autosport.

“The GPDA point is – and it’s from 100 per cent of drivers – that the problem is not the way the weekends are,” Grosjean stated. “The problems are bigger than that.”

“It’s tyres Why there is such a big gap between the cars? Because the tyres are just so sensitive.”

“It’s money distribution. When the money is spread out like this, how can you get a close championship?”

“Then it is weight of the car, which is very much related to helping the tyres and aero sensitivity, which F1 is working on.”

“We believe that if those four points are sorted, then the championship doesn’t need any tricks or whatever.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Then, Grosjean cited the example of tennis, which did not ned to change the Grand Slam tournament format. All this was in spite of the dominance of the Big Three Tennis stars.

He admitted that drivers were not trying to get involved in the politics of F1. However it was reasonable for drivers to have a proper say on issues such as reverse grids.

“We don’t have any political interest, we don’t have any financial interest, we only have this love of our sport,” the Frenchman insisted. “So 100 per cent of drivers are united on those points, and much more. We are the only ones united!”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

In addition to Grosjean’s comments, Carlos Sainz backed up his fellow driver’s stance on the matter. The Spaniard believes that more than the format, F1 need a tighter field with cars that are able to follow each other easily.

via Imago

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George

14,311Articles

One take at a time

Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
Show More>