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McLaren boss Andreas Seidl says Formula 1’s penalty points system needs to be reviewed given the circumstances behind his driver Lando Norris’s risk of a race ban.
Norris is briefly on 10 licence penalty points following the Austrian Grand Prix, two from a race ban, although he will lose two penalty points before the British GP event starts.
That will give him more leeway after earning two points on Sunday for his incident with Sergio Perez in the Austrian Grand Prix, but he will not lose any more points until November so will still have to complete a large chunk of the season only four points from a ban.
This week Norris will lose the two points he received for overtaking under yellows in FP1 at last year’s Styrian GP, but will still have the three points for not slowing for yellows in qualifying in Turkey last year, three points for not pitting under the red flag in qualifying at this year’s Azerbaijan GP, and the two picked up on Sunday for being judged to have forced Perez off-track.
Norris said the points he’s picked up have been “stupid” and he was defended by race winner Max Verstappen in Austria, as the Red Bull driver was critical of the points system and said it should be looked into.
Seidl said that for Norris to even be close to a ban after an incident like the one with Perez, which also earned him a five-second time penalty that McLaren felt cost him second place in the grand prix, “can’t be the right thing”.
“Lando gets two penalty points for something like that, which brings him again closer to get a race ban, which to be honest is something that needs a further thought overall, if that’s the right system that we’re having in place,” he said.
“I just look at this penalty and I think it’s just wrong, because that’s normal racing for me, that’s what we want to see.
“To interfere like that in terms of the race result is disappointing.
“And to even get the penalty points for it and risk to get a race ban as a consequence of something like that, I think it needs a review of the entire system or process.”
Norris isn’t the only driver with a high licence points tally after Austria. Ironically the driver he was judged to have wronged, Perez, is now on eight points because he had a pair of incidents with Charles Leclerc that doubled his licence tally in one afternoon.
One penalty was for slightly clumsily running into Leclerc and forcing him off at Turn 4, the other was after Leclerc tried to pass him around the outside into the fast Turn 6 left-hander and ended up skating through the gravel.
It means Perez will start the next event as close to a race ban as Norris, although one of his points will expire in mid-August and one more in mid-September, giving him a bit more leeway.
The superlicence penalty points system was adopted in 2014 to punish repeat offenders for an accumulation of offences over a 12-month period.
It was an idea that started after Romain Grosjean’s ban for triggering the start crash at Spa in 2012.
No driver has actually been banned since the system was enforced, although several have come close and that has tended to be criticised by drivers who feel that penalty points are disproportionate to the offences.
It was a view expressed by several drivers last year when world champion Lewis Hamilton briefly approached a race ban for a series of procedural errors, not even racing incidents, and many feel that penalty points should be reserved for dangerous driving.
Norris said after the Austrian GP that if a driver commits an act “that will put people in danger then I understand penalty points and if that adds up you get a driver ban or race ban but for little things like this, it’s stupid”.
He said it was “not what Formula 1 should be” and Verstappen supported him, calling it “not correct”.
But the system has been defended by FIA race director Michael Masi, who claims that teams have had the chance to correct it and not asked for any changes.
“It’s no different to those driving on the road in a lot of countries that have the maximum number of points that they have to abide by,” Masi said.
“And they have to adjust driving style and so forth accordingly. So no, I don’t think they’re harsh.
“It was discussed late last year. And it’s funny because it affects different drivers in different teams in different ways. And the consensus was at the end of last year from involving everyone, teams, the FIA and F1, that there shouldn’t be a change for this year.
“It’s not something that we would ever change from in here.
“The penalty scale is something that the teams all agree upon, and actually have input into at the start of the year. That’s what the stewards use.”
