mendis wrote: ↑21 Nov 2023, 14:34
Teams play around based on the understanding of penalty system. If they know penalty for such a foul is a drive through, then they won't. I remember Hulk cutting a corner to overtake in Abu Dhabi when it was notoriously difficult to overtake there and gain upper hand in constructors championship points as a Renault driver. He comfortably opened 5 second gap, which wouldn't have managed if he was behind. There are hoards of people, commentators, teams, drivers and team principals that cry out loud if these penalties are increased in severity. But in isolation when they are affected, they cry foul. So there is a lot of hypocrisy there to be addressed.
The entire problem here is the F1 Stewards has gravitated towards that almost every penalty for on-track action is the same. Causing a collision? Always 5 seconds. Overtake off track? Always 5 seconds. Pushing another driver off the track? Always 5 seconds.
The last 10 second penalty i remember for a collision is Silverstone 21. Other than that, the only 10 second penalties we see are for not serving 5 second penalties properly. And Lawson got one in Zandvoort for blocking another driver in the pitlane.
5 second penalties absolutely still has a place, but Stewards should be more willing to dish out different penalties based on severity*.
Caused a collision due to a minor misjudgment? 5 seconds is fine. Caused a collision due to a major misjudgment? Just give 10 seconds. Or 15 (not in the rules, but rules can be changed). Or, in very egregious instances, a drive-through or stop-and-go.
Same with overtaking off track or pushing another driver off. If there are mitigating circumstances (like the low grip at the start of Vegas because of the oil spill) or it was a 50/50 case, then 5 seconds is fine. If it's egregious (like Russell on Ocon at Monza), then a drive-through is absolutely in place.
Some people will probably cry about inconsistency, but it's literally the job of the Stewards to judge incidents and dish out appropriate punishment.
And also, Stewards need to stop judging too many things as racing incidents. They've been doing that a lot lately. Hamilton in Qatar and Perez in Mexico were both judged as racing incident, despite both of them being the product of poor judgment, even for Lap 1/Turn 1 standards. And then you have stuff like Verstappen overtake on Leclerc in Austin, which wasn't even investigated, despite it being a very clear cut example of pushing another driver off the track. The Stewarding this year has been extremely mediocre.
EDIT: * When i say "based on severity", i mean based on the severity of the mistake, and not based on the severity of the outcome.
