The first part of the season saw an extremely heated fight for the top ten between the mid-group teams. Given the few opportunities to score even a single point, being able to make the most of the opportunities available is fundamental.
Sometimes, however, those opportunities were built, as happened at Haas. In Saudi Arabia, after accumulating penalties, Kevin Magnussen slowed down the pace in order to “block” the rival teams’ riders behind him. The objective was to give teammate Nico Hulkenberg the opportunity to create a safety margin to make his stop and exit in front of the group of rivals, who on the contrary had already stopped, in order to maintain the tenth place which it would have meant a precious point for Haas.
A tactic that clearly generated some controversy and was then repeated in Miami. In the sprint on US soil Magnussen received three 10-second penalties for going off the track and gaining an advantage, which allowed him to keep Lewis Hamilton behind. Furthermore, the Dane also received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track without a valid reason.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
If on the one hand Magnussen ruined his own race, on the other his strategy allowed his teammate Hulkenberg to secure a position which earned him further points in the world rankings. Although the total haul of seven points does not seem particularly exceptional, on the other hand, in reality, for the mid-group teams even a few points can really make the difference at the end of the season.
As expected, Magnussen’s actions however reopened the discussion in the paddock, so much so that Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal, defined them as unacceptable and a valid reason to assign a one-race suspension. Added to this was the awareness that, in cases like these, having increased the penalties from five to ten seconds at the beginning of the year was not a sufficient deterrent to stop such situations.
The Miami commissioners decided to assign a 10-second penalty to maintain some consistency with previous decisions, but in one of their verdicts they also raised the need to find a better solution to prevent cases like Magnussen’s from happening again in future.
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-24
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Motorsport.com has learned that the FIA would like to start imposing drive-throughs in these cases, which would immediately solve the problem because it would force the drivers already sanctioned to make a passage in the pit lane, giving up the position to their opponents on the track within two laps.
The issue will be discussed by the teams, stewards and the FIA at the team managers’ briefing on Friday at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. Obviously, however, we must arrive at a common line, in order to understand how much this sanction would be activated.
According to what has been learned, the harsher penalties would be imposed in the event of a repeat offense during the same race, in particular in the event of suspicion by the stewards that the drivers who went off the track were intentional in order to maintain their position.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, RB team principal Laurent Mekies said he was in favor of tougher sanctions.
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal, RB F1 Team
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
“It’s one thing to strategically slow down the cars behind you to help your teammates or to help your race. It’s another thing to cut across the track and gain a position on someone and then slow them down,” the former manager said of the FIA.
“I believe that sport must find a way to prevent this from happening. It’s not that difficult, it’s called “drive-through”. The regulation allows the sports commissioners to judge what happened and to do so. Given everyone’s reaction, probably we don’t want this to continue to be the way of doing things, because in Monaco you could simply cut the chicane and slow down.
“Even if the driver gets a big penalty or penalty points, he would still help his teammate get a point. So, as a group, we want to make sure we have the tools to prevent this from happening. I believe we have them and it’s up to them to enforce them.”
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