Formula One’s 20 drivers, FIA and stewards held a “productive” meeting on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix to discuss overtaking rules in the sport.

The discussion comes a month after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ fierce battles at the United States and Mexico Grands Prix, where they were embroiled in controversial incidents.

Norris was handed a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen off the track in Austin, with the Red Bull driver first to the apex of the corner. However, Norris and other drivers felt Verstappen pushed his rival off the track.

A week later in Mexico, Verstappen was handed two 10-second time penalties for his actions in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Norris.

Verstappen, who won a fourth consecutive F1 title in Las Vegas, openly said he was racing according to the regulations.

“I think we still need, for sure, some more discussions on certain things,” Verstappen said.

“But I think it has more to do with the layout of the track. In some places there’s a lot of runoff and that creates a lot of problems, that’s something we’ll have to work on in the future. That’s the main problem.”

“If you have gravel, it stops you from doing things that take a little more risk than usual.”

George Russell, head of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, was one of several drivers who received a penalty in Austin for allegedly forcing another driver off the track while overtaking.

The Mercedes driver has called for more consistency in the sport and hopes for clearer rules in 2025.

“It was a productive meeting. I don’t think there’s much to change,” he said. Sky Sports F1.

“Just a weird phrase that needed to get rid of, like if you overtake on the inside you have to leave the width of the car from the apex to the exit, that’s why I got the penalty at Austin.

“There wasn’t necessarily anything in the guidelines about Max’s maneuver, if you dive into a bomb and go off the track. It was effectively out of control.”

“Everyone agrees with these things. It’s not like you have to turn everything upside down and rewrite the whole rule book. Just the odd thing had to be changed. It’s been positive.”

Speaking to print media, Russell said what drivers ultimately wanted were changes to the circuit design to naturally deter drivers trying to run wide.

“If you are able to stay on the circuit (when overtaking on the inside), you have the right to push the driver aside, as has been the case for all of us since karting,” he said .

“We also concluded that most of these problems were due to the circuits. We talked about a number of problems in Austin, I think a lot of overtakes would not even have been attempted if there had been gravel like in Austria at turn four the downhill right – you’re going to end up in the gravel if you go a percent or two over the limit.

“Silverstone at Stowe, there were some great races a few years ago with Lewis, Checo and Charles but ultimately everyone was off the track and that’s because the track allows you to.”

“So the circuits are the root cause and the drivers are an interim solution that we can agree on until we can get all the circuits back to good condition.”

Hamilton ‘welcomes’ more conversations in the future

Hamilton is aware of Verstappen’s aggressiveness more than any driver on the grid, having faced the Dutchman during the controversial 2021 season.

The seven-time world champion said F1 is now “going in the right direction” after Thursday’s discussion, which lasted around an hour.

“The meeting was really productive. It’s the first time we’ve really sat down with them,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“We had clear and open discussions with the stewards, who have a very difficult job. Every overtake and every scenario is so different from each other.

“There is nothing that will change for these two races but for next year we are working on the process and hopefully we will be happy to have more conversations with them in the future.”

He then added in the written media: “In their (stewards’) minds, this year the situation has been better in terms of consistency but obviously everyone wants to be perfect.

“Until you have these discussions, they won’t really understand where we are and what we’re fighting for is right or wrong, in certain scenarios. It’s good for them to hear and good for us to work for on clear guidelines, so even from the car you know what you have.

“For example, we talked about a caution, but you know if you have that caution and you wait until the last race of the year to use your caution, it doesn’t work.

Qatar GP live schedule from Sky Sports F1

Friday November 29
9:55 a.m.: First F1 Academy training session
11 a.m.: F2 training
1:00 p.m.: Qatar GP Practice One (practice starts at 1:30 p.m.)
2:55 p.m.: Second F1 Academy training session
4:05 p.m.: F2 qualifying
5:00 p.m.: Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying (qualifying starts at 5:30 p.m.)*

Saturday November 30
12:10 p.m.: F1 Academy qualifying
1:00 p.m.: preparation for the Qatar GP Sprint
2:00 p.m.: QATAR GP SPRINT
3:30 p.m.: Ted’s sprint diary
4 p.m.: F2 Sprint Race
5:15 p.m.: preparation for qualifying for the Qatar GP
6:00 p.m.: QATAR GP QATAR
8 p.m.: F1 Academy: Race 1
8:45 p.m.: Ted’s qualification log

Sunday December 1st
10:55 a.m.: Second race of the F1 Academy
12:15 p.m.: F2 featured race
2:30 p.m.: Sunday Grand Prix: preparation for the Qatar GP
4 p.m.: THE QATAR GRAND PRIX
6:00 p.m.: Checkered flag: reaction from the Qatar GP
7 p.m.: Ted’s notebook

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s end-of-season tripleheader continues this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the latest two F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription – No contracts, cancel anytime