F1 drivers opine on the potential decision from the FIA to award harsher penalty of 10s and shedding away the 5s penalties as much.
The stewarding has been in debate for years especially the penalties that they hand out. Outside the incidents, the penalties for track limits is the biggest talking point. And ahead of the 2024 season, there has been a note about change in stance.
The FIA is looking to limit the five seconds time penalty and instead hand out 10s ones which is a bit more harsh. The idea to have a five seconds penalty is for the stewards to use it as a warning and or not be too harsh for some minor offences.
But with the notion of universal 10s time penalty, it has generated mixed views – largely on the harsher side. Last weekend’s Saudi Arabian GP saw Haas’ Kevin Magnussen handed out a 10s penalty for a relatively minor contact which created debates about severity.
Here’s what the F1 drivers said –
Charles Leclerc: “It sounds quite harsh. I think it is quite harsh. But I think the main priority should be in fixing or helping us at least respecting those track limits better because at the moment the way the white lines are we don’t really see it. So I felt like five seconds was quite painful already. Ten seconds is, in my opinion, too much.”
George Russell: “Yeah, as Charles said, I think it’s difficult to really comprehend from a television how difficult it is from within the car. You’re sat so low, you only see the top 15 centimetres of your tyres and the cars are running, you know, 70 millimetres from the ground or whatever they are, even less at the end of a straight so we need a kerb that we can feel and ultimately some tracks we go to there are no track limit issues whatsoever. it’s only a handful of circuits that we see a lot of track limits issues. So we just need to find a way to solve it.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “This is about track limits? Yeah. I think so, yeah. A more severe penalty. It is true, it is difficult to see, but yet, you know, I think we do have a feel. Some tracks are better than others, but I think that would force us, you know, to be more careful, for sure. So, why not?”
Lance Stroll: “I got nothing really more to add. I think it’s a bit harsh but I mean , yeah, if you go off the track you get a penalty and whether it’s five seconds, 10 seconds I mean yeah I think you know we’re all pushing and all trying to stay in the track limits. I think some of the bigger issues are actually how the track limits situation is… At a lot of the tracks we go to, I think if we change the actual nature of a lot of the tracks and make it a little bit easier to stay in the track limits, but also just maybe more penalising if you go off the track limits – gravel, grass – we’d have less of these issues in the first place.”
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