Teams concerned about fines for safety-based penalties
A new penalty issued by the FIA in Hockenheim looks set to have a short shelf-life.
For unsafely releasing Charles Leclerc from a pitstop into the path of Romain Grosjean, Ferrari received a EUR 5,000 team fine rather than an actual sporting penalty for the driver.
Indeed, for the same infraction at Monaco, Max Verstappen received a five-second time penalty.
It is believed team bosses have now raised the issue with the FIA, arguing that fines paid by teams should not replace actual sporting penalties.
"This is about safety," Racing Point team manager Andy Stevenson told Auto Motor und Sport.
Renault's Alan Permane agrees.
"If this becomes the rule, each team should just deposit EUR 100,000 with the FIA before every race, and money can then just be deducted for every incident," he said.
Verstappen also thinks financial penalties are "not right" when teams stand to benefit from pushing the envelope in areas of safety.
"For a team, EUR 5,000 is nothing," said the Dutchman. "They won't mind spending that amount. From a security point of view, it's wrong."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
This is a tricky one. To me it is unfair to penalize the DRIVER when the TEAM made a mistake. On the other hand, to penalize the TEAM (with EUR 5,000) for their mistake is a joke. This is a huge safety risk to everybody in the pit lane. Spectators are protected by walls/barriers/run-off areas etc. Persons in the pit lane have very limited protection. I of course do not have a solution for this but I am pretty sure that with today's technology there must be a solution for this "age old" issue. Come on FIA, think harder or get consultants in to help...
I appreciate what you say but the potential consequence of the team "making the error" is that the driver will benefit to the cost of another driver, so I'm comfortable with a penalty to the driver in these situations.
Agreed.
> Winning team handed $10,000 penalty for mistake driver had nothing to do with
"Oops, we put super soft up front and hyper soft in the back"
Just dock all the teams points, that will stop them
It would certainly stop some teams because of the tightness of the midfield and even Williams now with just the single point but if it cost Mercedes, Ferrari or RBR two or three Manufacturer points to help their driver achieve a win or a place improvement I could see that happening in desperate times and then safety is compromised in a particularly dangerous area.
I think if the team makes a mistake, then the team should have points deducted from there constructor points, and if the driver makes mistake the driver should have points deducted.
This would be ideal, but I don't think we want even more rules right? A newby already has a very hard time in uderstanding the rules that change every frickin' season!
Just give a time penalty for the drivers finishing position, a fine of $5.000,- is a joke. They spend 5.000 dollar every 5 minutes.
The team is nothing without the driver and the driver is nothing without the team. They are one...
Amaya, I agree with you. However, how to "proof" if it was a team or driver mistake? I remember years ago a system was considered where the crew member in charge of releasing the car, had a "push button" device that when activated, "drop" the jacks & only then the 2 "jack guys" can remove the jacks. This system sounded good at the time but it was still not safe - if the driver makes a slow exit from the box, he will hit a car coming from behind... As I said, this is a tricky one... :))
An unsafe release into the path of an incoming car is one thing - but to then trundle down the pit while straddling the white line (defining the track) is just as dangerous,but maybe more so as there are pit crews being put in danger too. No penalties are awarded for this serious infraction,ie,Verstappen on LeClerc.
These penalties do nothing for the impeded driver, do they? I think there should be a time award for the impeded determined by the severity of the incident.
Exactly Time not Money will hurt them more,and give impeded drivers a fairer outcome.
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.