During the sprint race some episodes attracted the attention of the media and the drivers, including George Russell’s overtaking of Oscar Piastri, which then led to the penalty for the Briton from Mercedes having completed the maneuver over the white line.
In fact, attempting to overtake the McLaren driver on the outside of turn fifteen, Russell ended up outside the limits that demarcate the track, thus completing the overtaking in a prohibited area. Regarding this point, the regulation is extremely clear and recent episodes include Max Verstappen’s overtaking of Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, where the Dutchman was asked to give up his position to avoid a penalty, or Sebastian’s maneuver Vettel on Jenson Button on the penultimate lap of the 2012 German GP, with the German being sanctioned in that case.
However, Russell’s maneuver also attracted the attention of other drivers, including Lando Norris. The Englishman has in fact underlined how there is a lack of severity on the part of the FIA in dealing with certain violations of the sporting code, which would lead some drivers to take advantage of the situation knowing that the risk is to receive a penalty of only five seconds which, in certain cases, it may prove irrelevant to the result. In this specific case, yesterday Russell lost a position due to the 5 second penalty imposed for overtaking Piastri beyond the white line, which caused him to finish behind Pierre Gasly.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Speaking after the sprint race, Norris explained that the drivers had tried to insist to the FIA that the penalty for overtaking completed beyond the white line was not severe enough to discourage them from making an attempt, but the message did not appear to be received: “The thing I find a bit stupid is that these things have been raised so many times in driver briefings,” said the McLaren Englishman.
“It’s a point that we raise every time and it’s a point that George himself raised in Barcelona, where, with the fact that you can engage the outside line at Turn 1, and just by overdoing it, you can overtake two cars. Furthermore, we have I also saw Russia do it between turns one and two. It’s something that can easily be prepared for. I’m pretty sure we’ve come to the conclusion that people do it on purpose.”
“We discussed exactly this. And we talked about the fact that it can be done easily. If you are faster, you can overtake someone and you can easily widen the gap by five seconds. Like in Monaco, for example, if you cut the chicane,” added Norris, underlining how in some cases it is more convenient to cut a curve and overtake illegally rather than stay behind someone else for a long time.
“The FIA said, ‘Okay, we’re going to do it, so you have to give the position back,’ but now they’ve set the precedent of ‘you don’t have to do that.’ So I think there’s a lack of consistency again, which surprises me a little bit. ‘There was a pretty clear guideline about what they would do when something like that happened.”
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
In this specific case, Russell overtook on the third lap, but already in the following lap Piastri was overtaken by Pierre Gasly. At that point the Briton from Mercedes already had a two-second advantage over the drivers behind him, with the Frenchman from Alpine having inserted himself between him and the Australian from McLaren. Norris believes the best solution to the problem is to require drivers to return illegally gained positions immediately, or for the FIA to increase time penalties.
“If it’s your fault, give it back. You took the risk to do it, you committed to it, you need to give it back now. Penalties need to be tougher in general. People get away with too much. If someone gets stuck in qualifying it’s three positions, but people don’t worry about it. If you have a fast enough car, you don’t care about three positions”, added Norris, broadening his reflection to other episodes.
“I just think penalties in general need to be more severe. When you have three positions and a five-second penalty like today, they don’t stop you.”
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Alex Albon, Williams FW45, battles with Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60
Words that also come following another episode of the race which also involved Oscar Piastri himself, albeit in this case with Alexander Albon. In fact, during the seventh lap, the Australian attempted to brake to the limit in turn one, damaging the Williams driver, who then decided to defend himself by choosing to go beyond the white line, in order to have better acceleration and maintain position.
“I knew he was at the limit. To be honest, it happened to me a few times. You saw it with George too, the penalty is not severe enough. It’s a trivial penalty. I’ve already talked about it a couple of times. It punishes the slower car and helps the faster one. I’m sure George knew he was off the track, but he must have thought, ‘I can gain those five seconds in less time than he will lose by being stuck behind him.’ [Piastri]. That’s how it works.”
In the end the stewards decided not to penalize Albon for the manoeuvre, underlining that Piastri’s attempt was very delayed and that, due to the nature of that area of the track, “car 23 [Albon] was able to come alongside and maintain its position, ensuring both cars finished in the correct order.”
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