Christian Horner has questioned parc ferme rules and sympathised with Lewis Hamilton after he and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the recent United States Grand Prix.
Following Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the US Grand Prix, Christian Horner, the team principal for Red Bull, has questioned the parc ferme regulations for sprint weekends in Formula 1.
Charles Leclerc and the seven-time world champion were both disqualified in Austin last month when post-race inspections revealed that their skid blocks had excessive wear.
Unsurprisingly, Hamilton – who finished second in the race – gave a fairly blunt reaction to developments when he was asked for his verdict on the decision. He said: “It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race, but that doesn’t take away from the progress we’ve made this weekend.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, however, was quick to hold his hands up to the error, adding: “Set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package.
All of that is meaningless in the end because the rules are rigid and others have made the correct decisions where we have made mistakes. We must accept it, apply the lessons, and bounce back stronger the following weekend.”
Although Horner has effectively thrown his weight behind Hamilton by speaking out against the current rules, which he feels should be simplified moving forward, Wolff was happy to accept responsibility.
Speaking to Sky Sports during the Brazilian Grand Prix at the weekend, Horner was asked about parc ferme on sprint weekends and said: “Keep it simple. For me, parc ferme, locking a car in doesn’t really work after one session.”
It needs to have enough points because, as you could see, we weren’t quite sure whether to congratulate each other after the race. It needs to mean more, in my opinion.
“It requires more creation on your part. Instead of being a long run with a medal at the finish, it needs to be more of an event in and of itself. I believe there is genuine merit in taking action, but I don’t think we’ve got it quite right yet, so it needs some thought over the winter.”