As McLaren seeks right of review over Lando Norris penalty, drivers question why Max Verstappen went unpunished.
Perhaps Charles Leclerc best summed up the post-COTA feeling when he said: "Max has always been on the limit of regulations, but that's what makes racing Max so exciting.
"That's also why I really like having those fights with him," he continued, "you know that he will never let any room to you, and it will be always at the limit of the regulations. That's what makes those fights very exciting.
"Having said that, I feel like there are a few things maybe in Austin that I have seen that we maybe have to discuss with the FIA because I feel like the penalties were sometimes a little bit too harsh and we've got to make sure that we are all aligned, the FIA and us drivers, in order to make sure that it's clear what we can do and what we cannot do.
"It's more about, I think, Oscar (Piastri's) overtake on the Saturday which for me didn't really deserve a penalty," said the Ferrari driver. "But this is an ongoing process that we always try to optimise with the FIA and it's a discussion that we'll have I'm sure during this briefing.
"But to come back with Max it's always at the limit of the regulations. Sometimes it goes a little bit over, but yeah, that's what makes Formula 1 exciting. Those fights makes it exciting."
Asked about the driving guidelines, and whether there is currently too much incentive to brake late in order to have your front axle at the apex first, as that determines how much room the other driver should give you, Leclerc said: "It's a very, very complex subject, to be completely honest. I don't have the right answer here.
"I think common sense needs to be applied in certain situations. When a driver do that multiple times in the same way, at one point... Yeah, we've got to still create overtaking opportunities. And what I've seen in Austin maybe is a little bit extreme. So we've got to look into it.
"To give one only answer on that subject is difficult because, as I've always said, the rule book is done for a thing. However, there will never be enough rules for every specific situation there on track. Sometimes you just got to have someone that has done that since many, many years, look at the situation and be honest and deal with it, with the specific situation you have in front of your eyes, There will never be one rule that will define exactly the way we shall race, I think."
Asked how much aggression a driver should be allowed to use, fellow Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, said: "That is a very good question that I need to ask the stewards, because obviously it changes the way we go racing.
"It means the guy defending on the inside can brake as late as they want and they can fake the fact that you are trying to hit the apex when you are maybe not.
"It needs to be clarified because in that case they were both to blame," said the Spaniard, "Max for running wide and Lando for gaining a position off the track. That is why that specific scenario is a very complicated one on how to rule on it."
Like many, Sainz believes making changes to the track would help.
"If you think about it, the solution might be solved by itself by circuit standards or modifications," he said. "We keep going around in circles with guidelines that might be easier to solve with certain, slight changes to the track, which some tracks have already performed."
"Last corner in Austria, put some deterrent..." suggested Nico Hulkenberg. "If you put a natural deterrent there, it will change the dynamic of the corner. In street circuits, if there's a wall, it changes things.
"In most sports there are these grey areas," said the German. "I think it's track dependent. Austin is always one that brings out that grey area quite a lot. So yeah, maybe that's one thing, one area we can look into to try and help, particularly that corner, I think Turns 12, 15."
"The root cause of the problem is having a circuit that allows you to run wide," said George Russell. "And if we take Austria last year as an example, you had, I don't know, 300 track limit problems. They put gravel in, and there's no problems. If you put gravel on that corner, Lando doesn't go off and overtake, and Max doesn't brake that late and go off as well."
"It's always been a grey area," said his Mercedes teammate. "They probably need to make some adjustments for sure. Also we do have inconsistencies through rulings depending on which stewards are there. And as a sport, we do need to level up on all areas.
"I experienced it many times with Max," he added. "You shouldn't be able to just launch the car up the inside and then go off and still hold the position."
"I don't think you can write a set of regulations that covers every single possible scenario, it is a very fine line," said Russell. "I'm really interested to see if the FIA believe, having reviewed everything again, if Max should have been penalised for what he did or not.
"In my view, he should have been penalised. Therefore, there isn't really a loophole. If they say: 'Based on our regulations, he should not have been penalised', then he is exploring a loophole."
"It's quite impressive that people can read my mind," argued Verstappen. "It's crazy! I always try to make the corner, I didn't want to look for a shortcut, so I don't even know what to answer to this one. We've always said we wanted to race each other hard, that's what we like to do.
"It was quite a difficult second stint," said the Dutchman. "I lost a lot of grip on the front axle, it was very difficult to brake. That's what made my defence more difficult, because I know that if I braked a little bit too late, I would lock up and I really didn't have the front grip.
"It wasn't easy for me out there," he insisted. "I think all in all we still had a positive weekend for us, but still a few things of course that we want to do better, to be in that fight.
"I honestly believed, going into the race, that I would be in the fight, and we weren't, so that wasn't ideal. But at least it did show some promising signs that maybe we could be back in the fight."
In terms of the regulations and how they are interpreted and applied, he said: "I think we are getting to the stage where I always need the book in the car. If you look of course over the years, the book has grown quite a lot.
"It is overregulated, but then I can see the other point of if we take rules away, and there's again an incident... 'Oh, you need more rules! We need to be strong about this'.
"It's always the same thing. In the past, we have maybe less rules, and you have the same argument: 'You know, we need to be strong on this, on that'. It's always the same story."
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