Charles Leclerc of Ferrari has called for changes to the way time penalties are implemented in Formula 1, as he believes the current system lacks consistency in its punishments. The issue of penalties became a major topic of discussion prior to the Japanese Grand Prix, following the stewards’ decision to penalize Fernando Alonso in Australia. Alonso received a 20-second penalty for “slowing 100 meters” before Turn 6, which contributed to George Russell’s crash on the final lap. Despite arguing that his maneuver was not dangerous, Alonso dropped from sixth to eighth place in the overall standings. Leclerc agrees that Alonso deserved to be penalized but points out that the severity of the punishment varies depending on the driver’s position on the track. Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, also received a penalty at Albert Park last year due to a restart incident, causing him to lose points due to the tightly packed field. Leclerc suggests that the current use of time penalties is flawed, as it relies too much on luck and can lead to inconsistencies in punishments depending on the race situation. He believes that a fairer approach would be to penalize drivers by positions, regardless of the circumstances. While Leclerc acknowledges that the regulations may not cover every possible scenario, he believes that common sense should prevail in certain cases, even if the specific situation is not explicitly stated in the rules. He suggests that while the rules can be improved to provide clearer guidelines, there will always be situations where common sense needs to be applied.
Verstappen emerged victorious in the Imola race on Sunday, but it was not the dominant display we have become accustomed to seeing from Red Bull and the Dutch...
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