The end of the controversial Paul Ricard chicane?

One of the more unexpected stories from the French GP weekend was that the drivers agreed they would rather the Mistral chicane was removed.

Charlie Whiting has now said that the option to remove it for next year’s race will be discussed with the drivers in Austria this weekend.

Whiting admits he was surprised to hear the drivers’ opinion, with the drivers believing that better racing would be created by getting rid of it.

Nothing could be done for the race as Formula 1 rules state that the track layout cannot be changed during a Grand Prix weekend.

Whiting said: "There appears to be now a school of thought that we could have done without it, but all the teams and drivers have known about that for a long time.

“The teams have tested on that track, so I was a little surprised to hear that come out of the blue on Friday.”

“I would also like to hear the drivers' opinions now they've had a chance to race on it.

"We saw a few decent overtakes there, which I doubt we would have seen otherwise. It is a matter of opinion but I am happy to discuss it with all concerned on Friday night.”