FIA Needs To Find A Way To Avoid 'Get Out Of Jail Free Card': Says Russell After Using It
F1Thursday, 26 October 2023 at 09:00
Mercedes F1 driver George Russell explained he would like a rule change following the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
George Russell received a five-second penalty for illegally overtaking Oscar Piastri on McLaren outside the track limits and, therefore, gaining an unfair advantage.
The British driver said after the end of the race that Piastri had a right not to leave him any space and admitted the five-second penalty seemed fair.
However, this opens up a new problem. The five-second penalty did not hurt Russell at all, as he finished more than 20 seconds ahead of the next driver - Pierre Gasly. The Mercedes driver told media in Austin:
"If there’s gravel there and someone pushes you wide, you're going to end up in the gravel so you're not really planning to go there, where I was always intending to go around the outside, hoping that he would leave me a bit of space, and if he didn't it would just push me wide onto a bit of Tarmac and you just sort of worry about the consequences after."
The 25-year-old stated he doesn't enjoy racing this way. Many people usually bring up street circuits when this conversation arises, as drivers obviously can't go outside track limits. Because of the walls, Russell explained:
"If you're racing at Monaco you can't go beyond the limit because you'll end up in the wall, whereas in Japan you can't go over the limit because you end up in the gravel, whereas here your only consequence is running off onto a bit of Tarmac."
But as long as rules stay the same, drivers will exploit them. The Brit mentioned this happens in only a few circuits in the calendar that include Monza and Barcelona.
"And Monza, [for] example, coming out of the pits, I went over the limit knowing that I've got a get out of jail free card. And the same in Barcelona. You don't want to have a get out of jail free card, so the FIA need to find a way to avoid that."
While Russel calls for a change, he suggests a potential solution in the form of a position penalty. Knowing they don't want to lose their position, drivers could be more motivated to obey the rules.
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