A series of controversial incidents in recent races has led to suggestions that a 5-second penalty might not be enough of a deterrent to stop drivers from trying overambitious moves or when they just get it badly wrong.
At the Singapore Grand Prix, Sergio Perez clattered into the sidepod of Alex Albon as the Mexican lost patience trying to overtake the Thai in the final five laps of the race. The pace of his Red Bull then allowed him to pass Liam Lawson and comfortably build over 5 seconds to the AlphaTauri driver before the chequered flag was waved.
The following weekend at the Japanese GP, it was the same punishment for the Mexican as he looped Kevin Magnussen around at the hairpin. That attempt at a pass was clumsy at best.
During the same race, Logan Sargeant locked up both front tyres at the same spot and hit the side of Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo. The Finn ended up in the gravel.
Although he got out of it, the Alfa’s driver day was done because of sizable damage. Like Perez in Singapore, Sargeant was unbelievably lucky to escape with just a 5-second penalty.
Speaking about penalties, the 10-time Grand Prix winner believes stop-and-go penalties would act as a proper punishment when one driver is completely in the wrong.
Photo credit: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
“5 seconds is not much to take somebody out, and it was quite clear whose mistake it was.
“It still didn’t change the end result for him (Sargeant), but it definitely ruined my race. It would be nice to see a bigger penalty for that.
“My view for that kind of incident, having to do an extra stop-and-go (penalty) would be more fair, which would be more like 20 seconds.”
When it was put to him that the stewards should be given more power to hand out a grid penalty for the next race if a 5-second penalty wasn’t enough of a punishment, Bottas seemed unsure.
“That sounds like it would make things quite complicated. I am sure it’s not easy for them already to make the decisions.
“If you add more elements that they could change things… I don’t know. It’s not my headache.”
At the end of the day, Bottas has called for consistency and fair calls. In Singapore, that clearly didn’t happen through qualifying and the race.
“That’s what all the drivers want — fair decisions. If you ruin somebody’s race, you get penalised enough. It’s always tricky.”
