Carlos Sainz calls for "tighter" relationship between FIA and drivers after Jeddah changes

Track in Saudi Arabia — Photo: © LAT Images

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Sainz calls for "tighter" relationship between FIA and drivers after Jeddah changes

Only minor changes have been made to the Saudi Arabian circuit

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 24 March 2022 19:00

Carlos Sainz has called for the drivers and the FIA to create a "tighter" relationship after suggesting changes to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit have failed to improve the visibility.

F1 returns to Saudi Arabia for the second race in the country in under four months after an incident-packed debut for the street circuit in December.

The track is dubbed the fastest street layout in the sport but after the inaugural event, drivers called for changes to be made in order to increase visibility at apexes in order to ensure maximum safety.

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Changes have been made in response, with the walls being moved at various points around the track but speaking ahead of track running, the Ferrari driver was left unimpressed.

"They just moved the walls but the driving line will still be close to the wall which means our visibility hasn't improved," said Sainz.

"For me, [it] just shows that we need to keep making this relationship with the FIA tighter and better.

"We expected a step in the right direction. In my opinion, this is not much better, it is marginally, very small, a tiny bit, smallest ever."

Leclerc - Lack of change to "most critical part"

Sainz's team-mate Charles Leclerc was caught up in one of last year's crashes when a collision between his Ferrari and Sergio Perez's Red Bull triggered a meleé that also saw Nikita Mazepin and George Russell sustain significant damage.

Asked for his thoughts on the amendments, the championship leader suggested: "It's going in the right direction but I don't think it's enough, especially in the last part of the track from what I've seen.

"The first part, from turn four to turn 12, it's not changed much, which is the most critical part.

"Let's see how it will feel in the car but I don't think it's a massive change."

On whether drivers would expect a similar spectacle to last year's race now that changes had been made, Leclerc added: "Speaking from last year to this year, I don't know if they are so significant that we will see a completely different situation.

"From one year to another it can be very different. It depends on how many crashes we have.

"This doesn't depend only on the track, it depends on us the drivers, so we will have to wait and see.

"But I don't see the changes made making a huge difference to the scenario of last year."