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Oscar Piastri satisfied with FIA's approach following COTA controversy

Piastri in favour of current stewards system, but 'there will be surprises'

25 October at 17:15

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri believes the stewards' decisions are largely positive following the controversy of the US Grand Prix. According to the Australian however, there will still be calls that will surprise the drivers and fans one way or another.

Piastri in favour of developing guidelines

Following the controversial battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the Circuit of the Americas, stewards' decisions were once again brought up in Mexico. While many drivers would prefer to have full-time stewards in the competition, Oscar Piastri himself believes the current structure is not the issue. "I think the structure that the FIA have is certainly not a bad one. There is always an ex-driver there in stewards room as far as I'm aware."

"But again, I think everyone's view on what's right and wrong is always slightly different. I think even if you ask all 20 drivers about the same incident, there's probably 10 that think it is a penalty and 10 that don't. So it's difficult," he continued about the process the stewards go through as they are making their decisions.

Even as the McLaren driver is in favour of the guidelines, he still believes some decisions will come as a surprise at the end of the day. "We now have these guidelines which I think for the most part are a very positive thing, but when you get into the really fine details, those rules and guidelines can't cover every single situation. So I think for the most part we're doing a good job, kind of always learning and tweaking along the way, but I think there is still the feeling a little bit that some decisions are a bit of a surprise," Piastri concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Sandy van Wijngaarden


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