Tombazis breaks down drivers’ role in key meeting behind F1 rule tweaks

On April 20, the governing body officially confirmed a series of measures to be introduced with immediate effect, aimed at addressing issues that emerged in the opening three races across qualifying, the race itself and race starts.

In a video published on the FIA’s YouTube channel, Tombazis revealed that the drivers presented a largely unified position, pushing for changes to qualifying to allow them to enjoy the driving more and push harder, while also calling for certain safety concerns to be addressed, with their input proving particularly important in the discussions.

“The position of the drivers was quite uniform amongst drivers. They were all pushing for some changes in qualifying in order to, let's say, enjoy more the driving, push more, but also they were pushing for us to address certain safety concerns they had. So they were quite united and their input in this was very important.”

He then added: “I think it's important to note that whether we are talking about drivers or teams or PU manufacturers, F1 is also an extremely competitive sport. People are fighting each other on the track all the time and the stakes are very high.

He described the measures as sensible, praising the work done by the teams, the FIA and Formula 1 in reaching an agreement in recent weeks.

While acknowledging that the racing has already been strong this season, he stressed the importance of continuing to look for improvements and said he is keen to see how the changes will play out from Miami onwards.