penalty system set for overhaul

Formula 1's driver penalty system is set for an overhaul, after it emerged the FIA is discussing changes to the way punishments are handed out.

Derek Warwick, who has acted as an FIA drivers' steward, said the validity of the current regulations had been discussed during a recent meeting of the stewards' council in Paris, and that "a few changes might be coming" as a result.

"We had a council meeting in Paris which I headed with Charlie [Whiting] and came away with some good ideas," Warwick told AUTOSPORT at the FOTA Fans' Forum at the Williams factory on Tuesday night.

"Whether anything can come of them and they can be introduced, I don't know - this is all a new process, we didn't use to have these meetings. Charlie will go away, analyse it and make recommendations. There might be a few changes coming along in the next few months or year.

"There is a code out there but I don't always agree with it - a drive through is too harsh a penalty for some incidents and not harsh enough for others. There is still room for tweaking.

"There were a few ideas to come out of the meeting with all the permanent stewards which were quite interesting. Charlie will produce an agenda and give it to Jean [Todt], but whether they can be introduced next year I don't know yet. This is all new, we didn't used to have these meetings."

Although Warwick could not disclose the exact details of the rules in discussion, he used the example of a drive through equating to different time losses at different circuits as part of the reason the rules were being reviewed.

"There are penalties inherited over time. Is a drive through at Canada, where you lose about 15s, the same as one at somewhere like Abu Dhabi for example?," he said.

"They all average out eventually, but I think we are always looking at changes."

Warwick also defended having a rotating panel of stewards, saying that the impartiality of the panel is beyond question regardless of who is on it.

"I can look back this year and think certain penalties have been too strong or too weak," he admitted. "If I step back I don't agree with some decisions, but that's because I don't have all the facts.

"I thought Schumacher should have been banned [following his move on Rubens Barrichello at Hungary 2010] but that wasn't the vote of the stewards.

"We haven't got all the facts. In the stewards room we have. We have all the angles, all the data and can make a more correct judgement."

Source. autosport.com

Interesting and glad something is being discussed in an attempt to sort the situation out in terms of penalties. Another interesting debate at the FOTA meeting this week was whether or not DRS should be disabled at the mid-point or half way stage of the race and therefore preventing the predictable and boring, unskilled overtakes we are witnessing in the last ten laps of the race.

It now means all penalties any other driver would have got for a bad move etc will no be given to Lewis

Even with all the facts, telemetry, camera angles etc.. the stewards still seem to make some crazy decisions. Also there doesnt seem to be any margin for some wheel to wheel bashing or scrapes etc. Usually the smallest incident will get penalised. Though such ones like Vergne on Kovelienen was justified.

Its consistancy we need, one punishment a driver received in one race was a lot more/less harsher than an exact or very similar incident involving another driver in a previous race.

What about standard punishements fitting certain variations of incidents then the more complex incidents can be looked at more thoroughly and a custom punishement applied?

Whats the difference between running out of pertrol in quali and running out or petrol in the race if you need to have a sample after both? Answers on a postcard please. And after the farce of Hamis 'back of the grid' penalty instead of applying the last 'legally' set time - which probably cost him the race I'm glad its all being reviewed.

Regarding the drive thru issues - do they actually still have stop/go penalties ? surely they could be used for shorter pit lanes. They could even adjust the stop time accordingly.

I agree Steve stop and go pens should be used where the pit lane is shorter. Though i dont recall one being applied at all recently. Maybe they got shot and just use drive thru pens.

I also agree about the lack of fuel pens, Whats it really matter if the car stops out on track regardless of session. As long as there's enough fuel available and the stewards not using the last legal time for Hamilton was a farce (regardless of the driver). In fact had it been any other driver, particularly Alonso as it was his home race, he wouldnt have either been punished at all, team been repremanded or fined, or the last legal time used. You wouldnt have seen him being put to the back of the grid.

least with using the same stewards they can look at what they did with a previous incident, see how it relates ot the one they're currently looking at and apply a similar/same punishment.