F1 drivers postpone talks over Suzuka crane incident to Mexico

In the two weeks since the controversial wet Japanese Grand Prix – where Max Verstappen ultimately emerged victorious in a shortened and at times farcical event – the FIA conducted an investigation into the safety procedures and calls made on that day.

Ahead of practice at this weekend’s race at Austin, the FIA released its Suzuka report – with the key findings being that its race control officials had lost track of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri pitting before they decided to send the cranes out to recover the stranded cars of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, that they made that call too early and that Gasly’s driving was “reckless” in the circumstances. 

The report also included a range of steps the FIA will now take to implement the lessons of the Suzkua issues – such as developing a new messaging system to instantly warn of recovery vehicles being sent out in any circumstances and future work to improve automated systems so race control can track all cars while still being focused on making safety calls.

These and the rest of the report’s findings and key lessons were set to be discussed with the drivers during their regular briefing following Friday practice at Austin.  

But Motorsport.com understands that when this point was reached by the FIA during the briefing, the drivers quickly decided they needed more time to go over the full report away from the time pressures of a race weekend.

Sainz, who took pole for Sunday’s race at Austin, explained that “we all decided to postpone the Suzuka talks to Mexico due to a lot of drivers not having the time to read the paper”. 

He added: “[We needed] these three or four days [between the Austin and Mexico City races] to read it and [then] have a comment with our teams and everyone involved to see what other ideas we can come up with.  

“But, visibility was discussed [in the FIA report], which for me is actually nearly more important than anything else.”

Speaking alongside Sainz in the post-Austin qualifying press conference, Verstappen stated his position for the delayed discussions that “the main issue in Suzuka was the visibility”.   

“When I drove past Carlos’s car with the tractor or the crane – however you call it – you see it [as the lead driver behind the early race safety car],” he continued. 

“But when you are behind [in the pack] and nobody tells you or communicates to…