Penalizing drivers on the starting grid for exceeding the quota of power unit elements has been common place for a very long time in Formula 1. But when the penalties come to multiply over the same race and in different proportions (in number of places or at the back of the grid directly), it becomes very difficult to quickly establish a hierarchy for Sunday.
This is even more the case for fans on the side of the track or in front of their televisions, while F1 journalists themselves try to calculate the grid based on the regulations because F1 and the FIA do not provide them in real time. . What a simple algorithm could do…
For Toto Wolff, the director of Mercedes F1, there is perhaps a reflection to be had after the fiasco of Monza, the provisional grid having been published only 4 hours after the end of the session.
« I know why we have grid penalties: we don’t want to have qualifying engines and deploy an engine every race weekend.
« There were suggestions for teams to have penalty points in the championship, but that wouldn’t solve the problem because we would always put fresh engines on a driver who can win the championship. »
« So we have to review the regulations. Maybe we can do it unanimously for next year. It would make sense. It would make sense for us all to get together to discuss it and say how we can clear up all this to avoid any confusion at the end of qualifying. »
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mercedes/lewis-hamilton-recalls-his-dads-role-in-nyck-de-vries-reaching-f1-dream-over-a-decade-ago-f1-sports
