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Ex-F1 driver Mark Webber would like to see a halt to drivers being handed grid penalties when engine parts fail. The Australian doesn't agree with the fact a driver has to suffer consequences that are not of their own making.
For the hybrid power units, drivers are only allowed to use four of each component before grid penalties begin to be handed out. Already this season, McLaren has gone way beyond that allocation, with other drivers coming close to receiving penalties.
"There's too much policing," Webber said. "I don't want any penalties for a driver that's had nothing to do with it. If a mechanic has put a brake disc in the wrong way, and a driver is at the back of the grid.
"A lot of people don't watch qualifying, they turn on [the TV] and are like, 'why is my favourite driver at the back of the grid?' and so we lose people for that. It's hard enough to get the quality at the front of the grid as it is, let alone having guys diluted down the back through no reason of their own, so we don't need all that junk in there."
Webber offered a solution, stating that perhaps the team should be deducted points in the championship rather than have the driver suffer, who he feels is the innocent victim: "Constructors' points, whatever," he said when asked about an alternative penalty, "Find a way that you don't hurt the driver.
"There have been so many ridiculous penalties over the last five years that the driver has had nothing to do with, and it's had a big impact on how the weekend would have been in terms of entertainment."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I agree its too unfair a driver has to suffer