3 replies to this topic

[Peeweev]

I would like to dedicate this thread to the stewards and thier wonderous aray of penalties.

First of all I would like to have a moan about the 5 place gearbox pen. (I am aware this isnt a steward decided thing but a rule) This seems very harsh when if you block someone in Quali you only get a 3 place grid drop where you could make up a lot more places potentially. So Vergne blocked Senna knocking him out of Q1, now Vergne had the opportunity to fight in Q2 and in theory go as far up the grid as he can (although because he has a useless car and Vergne's not a great driver he didnt). Imagine that he had pit himself into 11th or so (or if he was in a better car it could be top ten)! So if you have a gearbox problem you get penalised more than if you block someone in Quali.

Now I haven't looked into it very deeply so feel free to correct me but from the tv cam it appeared the Kobayashi set his fastest time in Q3 under yellow flags. It maybe that it was investigated and it was revealed that he did lift of and it was fine although i didnt hear that they were investigating. I will therefore treat it as if he didnt slow down and was very very naughty! He should have been put to the back of the grid if the stewards are being consistant (is that shock across your face?! let me explain why I think that). I refer you back to the Spanish GP where Hamilton got thrown to the back of the grid for a small error and they ignored the fact he had done other times with other fuel loads on board. So if that is the harshness the stewards would like to invoke then anyone who does anything wrong in Quali should be put to the back of the grid.

And finally the wonderfull man that loves to play Destruction Derby ... Fat John (Grosjean). His "excellent" move on Webber resulted in him having a 10 stop go. This is the harshest pen they can give without DQing him. So why ban him for taking out several drivers and not DQ him for taking out Webber? Ok Webber may not be in the title race (WDC) but that could have been very dangerous too what if someone hadnt been able to stop in time? or if Massa tried to squeeze past as someone else went by and they had an incident? They didnt and everyone involved directly in that crash carried on (Rosberg got hit in amongst there) but it wouldnt have taken much for there to be a very dangerous and potentially injury or worse if one other car hadnt avoided Webber. I like Grosjean as a man and as a driver he could be great if he could stop getting in these incidents!

All in all I feel there needs to be a set of stewards who do EVERY race and a set of rules that make the gearbox pens less extreme (think if you got a gear box pen at somewhere like monaco then its v hard to get back to your quali place).

Feel free to disect and disagree with me.






Rant over!

[F1 FANatic]

The thing about the gearbox is not to punish the driver directly. It is to punish the team for not building a component that lasts as long as it has to. You have to remember F1 is both a Drivers Championship and a Constructers Chamipionship.

You ask any Team principle they will tell you that they want a WCC much more then a WDC from one of their drivers. A WDC is nice, but a WCC means $$$ for teams.

A penalty for something the driver does hurts the team just as much as it hurts the driver and so penalties against a team affect a driver the same as well. Which is why i don;t think the idea of point reductions for gearboxes is a good idea.

As for the consistency of the stewerting I have to agree, we need 3 or 4 consistent judges who go to every race. I personally would vaulenteer for such a job.

[Ikyrotz]

F1 FANatic, on 07 October 2012 - 11:56 PM, said:

A penalty for something the driver does hurts the team just as much as it hurts the driver and so penalties against a team affect a driver the same as well. Which is why i don;t think the idea of point reductions for gearboxes is a good idea.

I think this is the best argument I've heard on this topic for why the driver gets the penalty. Also, if only the team points were deducted for gearbox changes, at some point of a season it might be advantageous for a team to take the penalty if it means a new gearbox for the driver, giving drivers of that team a big edge wrt. others (say, at the moment, Lotus doing that for Kimi, given that they are quite securely 4th with little chance of improving if Grosjean and Massa continue to drive like they did in Japan).

[Peeweev]

F1 FANatic, on 07 October 2012 - 11:56 PM, said:

As for the consistency of the stewerting I have to agree, we need 3 or 4 consistent judges who go to every race. I personally would vaulenteer for such a job.

If they are asking for volenteers sign me up too

I think maybe the pen for gear box shouldnt b more harsh than blocking someone and causing them to lost grid places. But good arguments