F1 News
FIA inform drivers that change will not happen
- GPblog.com
The FIA has informed the drivers that no changes will be made this year to the penalty points system with regard to the violation of track limits.
This FIA system has been criticized for a number of weeks now. If a driver commits an offense, he can get penalty points. As soon as a driver has twelve of them, he is excluded for one race. At the Russia Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was given two penalty points for making test starts where he was not allowed to. This was later reversed after criticism from various figures in the sport.
125 laptimes taken away
You can also receive penalty points for violating the track limits. Several drivers complained about this during the GP of Portugal, after no less than 125 times were taken on Friday because the drivers went too wide. They feel that they should not be penalized for incidents in which they do not cause problems for others. But Michael Masi has said that this rule is not going to be changed just like that in the middle of the season.
"We have discussed this with all the drivers involved," he said to RaceFans. "At the beginning of each year the FIA, together with the team bosses, reviews the penalty table and its guidelines. Usually, a consensus is reached. So it is reviewed every year, and we will do that again next year. But this is not something we can adjust at half-season," he explains.
Three drivers received penalty points for breaching track limits at the GP in Portugal: Lance Stroll, Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat.