(Motorsports news) If the stewards determine that an incident warrants it, drivers will also get sporting penalties in addition to penalty points; a 12-point accumulation over a rolling 12-month period will result in a race ban.
After receiving several penalties recently, Kevin Magnussen, a driver for Haas, is getting dangerously near to that threshold. He currently has 10 points, the most recent of which were added following the Miami Grand Prix.
But drivers are concerned about how points are applied to different kinds of penalties.
At the Safety Car 1 line as the Haas exited from a pistol, Sargeant was found to have violated the safety car rules and was given two penalty points for the incident at the Chinese Grand Prix.
However, the Williams driver feels that the system has devolved into a “joke” because more serious traffic violations do not result in license point penalties.
When asked if he thought the penalty point system should be changed, Sargeant told Motorsport.com, “I think mine [in China] was extremely frustrating.”One thing is the penalty. It seems almost comical to receive penalty points for what it was. I believe that you just receive reprimands for a lot harsher things that occur during the weekend.
But the driver from Williams feels the system has become a “joke” because more serious traffic violations do not result in license points.
“I think mine [in China] was extremely frustrating,” Sargeant said in response to a question from Motorsport.com about whether he thought the penalty point system needed to be changed.
The fine is one matter. It was kind of a farce to receive penalty points for what it was. I believe that throughout the weekend, much worse things occur for which you simply receive criticism.
“People have slowed down in front of me in qualifying, almost had massive wrecks, and nothing happened. However, you receive two penalty points when I cross the line simultaneously with someone else and you are unable to observe it, which I believe is a bad direction to be going.”
Prior to Magnussen’s encounters with the Miami GP stewards, Perez held the top spot in terms of penalty points.
In reply, the Red Bull driver gave an explanation, saying, “I think that given that we now have more races, it’s definitely something that should be looked at. Sometimes you already pay the consequences for that and to add some penalty points.”
“Every incident, if you see all the points that every driver gets, there are a lot of points that are probably over the line, but the rule is there.
“However, ideally it will be something that can be examined later.”
