Daniil Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen were given two penalty points each for incidents during the Canadian Grand Prix.
Kvyat was initially given the wrong penalty during the race. The stewards intended to impose a ten-second stop-go penalty but a drive-through penalty was handed down instead. Kvyat was therefore given an additional ten-second time penalty later in the race to make up the difference.
Kvyat and Magnussen both move onto a total of five penalty points due to their latest penalties. Magnussen was penalised for overtaking Stoffel Vandoorne during a Virtual Safety Car period.
“The video evidence clearly showed car 20 [Magnussen] overtook car 2 [Vandoorne],” the stewards noted. “However he did give the position back, therefore the minimum penalty was imposed.”
hoshino (@hoshino)
11th June 2017, 22:05
“So we added penalty to his penalty for that wrong penalty.”
Strontium (@strontium)
11th June 2017, 22:06
The way the stewards handles Kyvat’s penalty was embarrassing and not fair on him. They should’ve never made the mistake in the first place, but once they had, they should have accepted they’d done it and stuck by their error, not penalise him again.
I’m very disappointed and it ruined what was becoming a solid race for him.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
11th June 2017, 22:42
@strontium I disagree. They decided what the penalty should be and what Kvyat served in the end was no more than what he was going to receive. A drive-through penalty plus a ten-second time penalty adds up to the same as a ten-second stop-go penalty.
It’s obviously not ideal that they gave him his penalty in stages but the end result was realistically no different.
Strontium (@strontium)
11th June 2017, 23:31
@keithcollantine “captain obvious” explains below why it’s not right. I get that the penalties add up correctly so to speak, but the whole thing messes with his race, over what is, let’s not forget, an unnecessary rule to begin with. I know that shouldn’t make a difference but when all things are considered, it was a silly course of action for them to take. They made the mistake, they should accept it was their mistake and leave it alone, rather than messing with Kvyat’s head as well. When such concentration is required it’s just not what is needed. Perhaps it’s the stewards that needed that 10 second time penalty for their infringement.
And the penalty points take the biscuit really. They were such a good idea but they’ve been implemented so badly ever since their introduction. They were meant to punish drivers for consistenly wreckless driving, not the one-off blue flag infringement, trying to make the starting grid, etc. One day somebody will undeservingly receive a race ban, it will be controversial, and then and only then they’ll realise they have to review the system. Liberty Media have got a long way to go to sort these problems out.
Aapje (@aapje)
12th June 2017, 7:54
I think that the penalty points are meant to punish reckless driving, not wreckless driving.
Dani Popescu (@daniboyf1)
12th June 2017, 7:33
Sorry, @keithcollantine, but it is very different:
1) Knowing the extent of the penalty at the very beginning of the race influences your calls on strategy. Yes, F1 is very much a strategy game these days, especially for midfield teams (what tires, when to change, in which position [to be read “in front of who”] you rejoin when exiting the pits). Two penalties = two “brain-storming” sessions.
2) The “hoping for a safety car” factor. Although this is once again related to Strategy, but it also implies a bit of luck, of things going your way.
3) It definitely messes with your head. Hence Kvyat’s comments. He may be hot-headed, but he’s onto something. How many drivers would’ve kept their cool din DK’s situation. Can you stay focused on your race? Not as much as in normal conditions.
Instant example: If with 20 something laps to go you are stuck behind a car and can’t pass, a 10s penalty coming at you at the end of the race, what do you do? Your actual position is 10 seconds behind where you are at that point in time. Maybe you pit once again for US, hoping that running in clean air and at a faster pace will help. Instead of loosing time anyway. The thing is that the sooner you know, the better.
Michael Brown (@)
11th June 2017, 22:10
I don’t understand in how correcting the penalty for Kvyat they end up giving him another penalty, penalizing him more than he should have been originally.
10/10 stewarding, lads.
Sammy
11th June 2017, 22:38
Actually, had he continued, the way he served those two penalties, a drive through and a 10 second time penalty at his next pit stop, would have taken less time than a 10 second stop and go penalty.
In a 10 second stop and go penalty you also lose time decelerating from and accelerating to the pit lane speed limit. A part of the penalty that Kvyat would not have served by separating the drive through and the time penalty.
Still a massive cock up by either the stewards or the people that relayed their decision to race control though.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
11th June 2017, 22:44
@mbr-9
No they didn’t.
His original penalty was a ten-second stop go penalty. That means, come into the pits, stop for ten seconds and leave. No pit work may be done on the car.
What he served was:
A drive-through penalty (come into the pits without stopping)
A ten-second time penalty (served during a pit stop he was making anyway)
So nothing lost for Kvyat.
subroc
12th June 2017, 0:41
A 10 second stop and go penalty probably would have been worse, because you have to factor in the slow down and speed up loss in there too. This way, he absorbed that extra time loss by making a tyre change pitstop at the same time. Well, he would have, had he not had to retire during that pit
Dani Popescu (@daniboyf1)
12th June 2017, 7:40
And still, have you ever seen a top team, in the rare occasion they have served a stop & go penalty, opt for the time penalty at the end of the race? NO. And they no best. It’s easier to deal with something like this during the race. You can toy with strategy, you can hope for a SC or a VSC etc.. And you can battle it out on the track, knowing exactly where you are at.
If Perez would’ve received a penalty when Vettel was miles behind, when do you think he would’ve taken the penalty? After Vettel cought up with him? Or while he was still in front, hoping to block Vettel and keep his position?
It is very, very different!
OOliver
11th June 2017, 22:14
Penalty point for missing your grid slot!!!!!!!
What is this world turning into.
Ronald (@mosquito)
12th June 2017, 22:03
+ 1
If endangering two fellow drivers leads to the same penalty as driving to the wrong line, all is lost on the rule department.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
11th June 2017, 22:37
I know I often try to defend Kvyat, but I will have to again. This is just stupid. He didn’t do anything wrong this weekend. I also know that I often do find faults with Sainz, and yes, I have. This was a terrible weekend for him. I don’t see how he will escape a penalty for what he did on Grosjean. He made him take avoiding action, then attempted another overtake that resulted in him walloping into Massa. Kvyat is just so unlucky and Sainz has now made 2 very big mistakes this year.
Flip J (@flipjj)
11th June 2017, 22:43
I can’t, for the life of me, understand how Kvyat got 2 penalties for something pretty minor and Sainz got nothing for wrecking at least two races, in addition to his own.
The handling of Kvyat’s penalty was downright pathetic. Gave him the wrong penalty, he served it, so let’s correct it by giving him the correct one? Ridiculous.
Strontium (@strontium)
11th June 2017, 23:15
+1 @thegianthogweed completely agreed, and the rule itself is pathetic and a typical example of F1 having unnecessary rules which alienates fans (and the drivers and teams, very often).
@flipjj the idea was the two penalties added up to the so-called “correct penalty”, but I agree with your point overall, it was pathetic handling and they should’ve left it after the first penalty.
As for Sainz, it was incredibly wreckless. It always seems to be Massa that gets taken out in these sorts of accidents.
Captain Obvious
11th June 2017, 22:57
Kvyat was actually punished more by the penalty being broken up. If Kvyat was given fully penalty early in the race, he could’ve served it all and could have run alternate strategies to minimize damage. Since the extra 10 seconds was given at the end of the race, it was much more damaging than at the beginning. I do not understand why the writer of this article defends the penalty saying “nothing lost for Kvyat” even though it is common sense that if you serve the penalty earlier in the race there is an opportunity to recover. Kvyat has the right to be angry and he should, the way this was handled by the stewards definitely cost him!
OOliver
11th June 2017, 23:54
Statistics will tell you the 2 penalties combined is equal to the actual single penalty. But in reality, they don’t add up equally. And I think the penalty points are open to abuse and grossly disproportionate relative to the infraction.
kanan
11th June 2017, 22:58
Oh my God. Poor Kvyat.
Patrick (@paeschli)
11th June 2017, 23:56
Since when do you receive a 10 second stop-and-go penalty and 2 penalty points for missing your grid slot? I feel like I’m missing something here, maybe FOM should have showed us what happened.
Sainz puts the lives of other in danger and he receives barely anything.
Sammy
12th June 2017, 1:04
The penalty wasn’t for missing his grid slot. It was for what he did after that. The rule he broke was not being back in grid order before he got to the first safety car line on the parade lap. I think the rule’s there to prevent an out of position car being rammed when the cars split sides to take up their grid slots on the start finish straight (as no driver would be looking for or expecting to be overtaken at this point).
Sven (@crammond)
12th June 2017, 1:07
@paeschli The Kvyat-incident was a whole lot more dangerous, since he bolted while unprotected pit-personnel was on track, after he did not get away from the grid at the start of the formation lap. Note that the penalty is about the start, not the end of the formation lap. Though you could argue that it was as much the fault of his crew sending him on his way at that point in time (while the crews were clearing away from the grid), and driver-penalty-points (which would carry over on a hypothetical team-change) are thus not the right thing.
Strontium (@strontium)
12th June 2017, 10:06
The first safety car line is the one at the end of the lap. If anything, forcing them to be in the correct position like that is likely to ensure that drivers bolt away even faster in the future
Sonics (@sonicslv)
12th June 2017, 4:07
First of all, the stewards can’t give Kvyat “only” drive through penalty because the rules specifically calls for 10s stop-go penalty. For reference here is article 36.8 from F1 Sporting Regulations:
and the article 38.3(d):
Now that we established it was required by the rules for Kvyat to have 10s stop-go penalty, and the initial penalty from stewards is only drive through penalty, we have 2 general outcome:
1) Give Kvyat additional 10s penalty.
It’s gives roughly the same total amount of time as 10s stop-go (minus accelerating and braking factor) but may give some psychological effect to the driver; or
2) Take it as steward fault and no additional penalty given.
Which is explicitly violates the rules and is unfair for other drivers because… we feels bad for Kvyat?
I think it’s objectively clear that giving additional 10s penalty is the better choice. Otherwise we could have silly circumstances like in other sport where literally everyone else in the world could see a goal being made by a hand but stands just because 1 person who didn’t see it called the shots and his word is final or the equally ridiculous a goal have been made (even with instant replay) but is negated because, again, 1 person who called the shots didn’t see it and his decision is final.
Steve
13th June 2017, 12:19
So basically, Kyvat should have started from the pitlane and avoided any additional penalty?