Also on the occasion of the last United States Grand Prix, the Mercedes he had to deal with one penalty for the replacement of a component; specifically, this happened to the detriment of Valtteri Bottas, who was forced to relegate to the grid by five positions for the use of a new internal combustion engine, the third in four races. Previously, the same circumstance had also occurred with Lewis Hamilton, who, however, had to serve ten positions in the grid for the same replaced component. The Englishman, however, was forced to a heavier penalty than his teammate, given that the latter had repeatedly changed the internal combustion engine, precisely three times in four races, unlike what happened with the number 44.
This is because when the same component is replaced in a short time, the regulation provides for less severe penalties, specifically five penalty positions to be served for Valtteri Bottas instead of ten. An aspect on which the team principal of the German team also intervened Toto Wolff, in favor of this regulatory mechanism: “I find it correct to serve fewer penalty positions on the grid following the same regulatory ‘infraction’ in a very critical situation where you are forced to change numerous parts of the engine several times, or even have to replace the entire power unit – analyzed the Austrian manager as reported by the newspaper GPFans – is a kind of anti-embarrassment rule dating back to the beginnings of Honda in F1 in 2015. We need to evaluate the circumstances for how to understand this rule in the future, given that this year is still putting us in difficulty ”.
Among the alternatives that have emerged or proposed in recent years, since the era of turbo-hybrid engines in Formula 1 began in 2014, there has also been the replacement of penalties on the grid with a loss of points, for teams making changes to power units, in the constructors’ championship. Regarding this idea, Wolff expressed himself as follows: “I think the penalty system on power units is solid – He admitted – what we must avoid is the creation of components or engines that only last a few races. If the rules were changed, removing the penalties on the grid with a loss of points in the constructors ‘championship, the teams that would be fighting for the drivers’ title would constantly change their engines. If we found valid solutions – he concluded – it would be worth analyzing them not only for the fans, who would be less confused, but also for the drivers themselves, who should no longer be relegated to the grid. However, at the moment, I have no solutions to suggest”.
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