F1 News: Toto Wolff Points Out Major Flaw With FIA Scrutineering "Too Thinly Spread"

Claiming that the FIA and the scrutineers are "too thinly spread," Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff carried forward his views from the skid plank controversy in Austin, thus leading him to point out a significant flaw with the FIA's post-race scrutineering.

The Austin GP weekend was a hit-and-miss race for Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton finished P2 on Sunday. But moments later, his most impressive achievement this season was deleted by the FIA after a post-race inspection of his car that was found to have way more plank wear than the acceptable limit.

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Even Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth met with a similar end to the Grand Prix weekend for the same infringement. The bumpy nature of the Circuit of the Americas and the Sprint format weekend that allowed only a single practice session were blamed for the excessive skid block wear on both cars.

As multiple sides continue to debate on what could be done in the future to avoid a similar situation, Wolff has pointed out a major flaw within the FIA's scrutineering process. Speaking to the media after the Mexican Grand Prix, He said:

“I think that the FIA and the scrutineers are too thinly spread.

"They’re doing their best and utmost to make sure that everybody is complying to the regulations and that means random picks and random checks are probably the only way you can go.

"Checking plank wear on a sprint race weekend in Austin with the bumpiest track and then turning the result upside down, I think the moment you check it’s clear that you’re going to have some shenanigans afterwards.

"So maybe one can have a little bit of a bigger perspective on these things, but I think the scrutineering and the stewarding is what it is.

"We need robust policing and we were found out to be not complying with the skid wear and then we’re out, that’s clear.”

Wolff's statement came after only eight of the twenty drivers attended a meeting organized by FIA's Garry Connelly before the Mexican GP to improve the consistency and transparency of race stewards' decisions after receiving numerous public complaints.