Teams meet at Japanese GP to discuss improving state of Formula 1

The meeting was an informal gathering with no specific agenda but, significantly, it was conducted without any representation from the FIA or F1 owners Liberty Media.

It was the first time in a year since the teams last met informally, and is another political development regarding F1's direction ahead of the regulation overhaul slated for 2021.

"It [the meeting] was just to talk about the state of F1 and how we're going to improve it going forward," said Racing Point Force India team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

"The racing's got a lot better but it could be better.

"So for example if we have a two pitstop race it might be better, or a combination of some doing one and some doing two.

"How do we get there? It was all about improving the show.

"The Strategy Group has a specific agenda, and you stick to the agenda. But today it was talking about anything.

"I thought it was a good idea and maybe we'd come up with some suggestions, but I didn't hear anything different from whatever was said before - two stops better than one stop, how are we going to make that happen?

"There are different opinions, but the one thing we all agree on is if we can split strategies, that will be good, because everyone tends to use the same strategy now.

"But at the beginning [with Pirelli] it wasn't like that."

Szafnauer said it was a positive discussion, even if there were few concrete conclusions.

"We came out thinking that it was good to get together and mull this stuff over - to see what ideas that we have - and once we're aligned, we can talk to FOM [Formula One Management] too.

"It was just getting our thoughts together.

"I think whether we were aligned or have differences, it's just good to feed that back to the FIA. Sometimes not all of us do.

"It's good to make good decisions with a lot of information. The more information you have, the better outcome that you're going to have in your decision making."

The Force India boss believes that the teams should get together on a regular basis.

"It doesn't happen that often. I think it's just good to sit down and chat. I think the last one we had was in Malaysia [2017].

"We should continue to do it, meet once a month, as opposed to just ad-hoc, and let everyone vent their opinions.

"There are different teams out there, we are different from the big ones, and there are other ones that are different from us.

"Everyone's got their own opinion. And in some things, like a better product, we should all be aligned. We should all want a better product."