Formula 1 must avoid a scenario in which drivers deliberately cause incidents in order to be punished for rivals, like in football when players go underground, says Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
Many fans and commentators were unhappy that both Lando Norris and Sergio Perez were punished for pushing the drivers far in the battle for position at the Red Bull Ring.
Norris is said to have driven Perez off the track at Turn 4 at the start of the race, while Perez was later involved in two incidents with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Since the sanctions appear to have violated a “Let them race” philosophy that F1 has been operating with for some time, Horner is concerned that a bad precedent may be set.
He thinks it is important that the way the penalties have been distributed in Austria doesn’t open the door to drivers to believe that the easiest way to beat rivals now is to get their car off the track throwing to try to punish others.
“You don’t want footballers to go into hiding,” said Horner, who found that none of the three incidents was worth punishing. “I think we have to avoid that.
“I know it’s incredibly difficult because we talk about these things a lot and it’s difficult for the race director, but I felt that the incidents we saw may have resulted in more racing incidents than penalties have earned. ”
Horner said it had long been known that drivers trying to circumvent the outside of a rival at a corner will turn themselves into the car inside.
“The incident between Checo and Lando is racing,” he said. “You go around the outside, you take the risk, especially when you are not able to stay ahead of the curve.
“But I think the FIA has approved that [first] Penalty, then couldn’t award a penalty for a very similar move with Charles.
“These guys have been karting since childhood and they know that you take the risk if you run around outside, especially if you are not ahead of the game.
“So yeah, I think the penalties were a bit harsh and it contradicts the ‘let them run’ mantra that we’ve advocated for the past few years.”
Horner didn’t think Perez had been too impatient to overtake Norris in this way, as the Mexican was aware of how difficult it would be to overcome the McLaren later.
“I think he knew it would be very difficult to overtake Lando because he was so quick on the straights,” he said. “He was trying to get the move done quickly and of course it was a shame at that point to lose your buffer with Mercedes.
“He then received a few more fines with Charles. But I think he managed to get past Daniel once [Ricciardo] and in clear air, then he drove incredibly well. He lowered his head and built on Daniel for 10 seconds until the end of the race. “
