F1 News

"Drivers shouldn't be surprised that they are penalised"

6 July 2021 at 20:49
Last update 6 July 2021 at 22:08
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  • GPblog.com

It was the talk of the town after the race: the penalties handed out in large numbers to Lando Norris, Sergio Perez (2x), Yuki Tsunoda and so on. While many thought that the stewards had done a good job, there was also a lot of criticism from people who thought that the race should just go on. Will Buxton bumped into one of the stewards at the airport.

Penalties justified?

On his Twitter page Buxton reveals, "Caught up with Derek Warwick at the airport on the way home today. I'm still in agreement with his and the stewards' decisions yesterday. He told me how much they had to wrestle with Lando's initial penalty but that ultimately, it was a pretty clear breach of the regulations.."

Buxton goes on in a subsequent tweet continued, "When the attacking car is substantially alongside, racing room has to be given. This is as true in corners as it is on straights. If the leading car edged the attacking car off track on a straight it's a slam dunk penalty. The same goes in corners. You can't just run people off."

The rules

Buxton faced a lot of backlash on his Twitter page a day earlier when he revealed that he agreed with the penalties. He says: "Interestingly, I've seen folks getting quite angry about the fact I used the regulations to back up this argument yesterday. (Sporting Code Appendix L). The rules are there for a reason. Everyone knows them. They shouldn't be surprised that they get penalised when they break them."