FIA ‘not rushing’ to close loophole Red Bull exposed with Sergio Perez at F1 Japanese GP.
The FIA has rejected plans to quickly mend the rift revealed by Red Bull with Sergio Pérez at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix.
Perez endured a nightmare race at Suzuka, colliding with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap and then in an awkward collision with Kevin Magnussen.
The Mexican was hit with two separate five-second penalties and was required to stop his Red Bull car on lap 15, immediately after the incident with Magnussen.
The reason Perez retired was to return home and retire in Japan. However, Pérez was strangely brought back into the race 26 laps later so he could take a second penalty after it appeared his penalty might carry over to the next Grand Prix accordingly, it can be in the form of net loss.
After stopping to take his penalty, Perez was called back to the pits only to retire on lap 43.
Sky F1 journalist Ted Kravitz reported that the FIA wants to close this gap in time for the next race in Qatar.
“He [Perez] was a DNF, then he wasn’t, then he was a DNF again,” Kravitz said in his post-race diary on Sky.
He collided with Hamilton at the start and had to crawl under the safety car to get a new nose. He took a penalty but not all. He passed the Safety Car and received a five-second penalty, after which he hit Magnussen and made another pit stop.
“They stopped him seven or eight rounds and then realized there was a loophole in the rules, which means… the rules say:
“The stewards can put you on the grid at the next race if you don’t take a five-second penalty for certain offences.”
“’May’ does not mean ‘will’.
“Jonathan Wheatley [Red Bull’s sporting director] and the team think it’s possible, and probably very likely, that the stewards will impose a grid penalty on them at the next race if they don’t perform Show your penalty.
“They saw this vulnerability. They asked the FIA if they agreed that if they re-entered the race and served their penalty it would be erased. The FIA agreed so they did it and it worked.
“I think Checo was wearing jeans and eating ice cream!”
“I can tell you that the FIA, having taken note of this loophole, intends to close it quite quickly for the next race.
“That said, for certain violations, if a penalty hasn’t been taken, it has to be a penalty in the next race.
“They won’t let Red Bull get around the rules. So smart, don’t get me wrong! Really smart. If I were the team leader, I would say “definitely do it!” »
That’s great but the FIA doesn’t seem too happy about it.
But the Daily Mirror later reported “this is wrong and he will be in no hurry to change the rules”.