Charles Leclerc, Ferrari driver, requested changes in the way time penalties are implemented in Formula 1, as he believes the current system lacks consistency in its punishments. The issue of penalties became a major topic of discussion before the Japanese Grand Prix, following the decision of the stewards to penalize Fernando Alonso in Australia. Alonso received a 20-second penalty for “cutting 100 meters” before Turn 6, which contributed to George Russell’s accident on the last lap. Despite arguing that his maneuver was not dangerous, Alonso dropped from sixth to eighth in the overall standings. Leclerc agrees that Alonso deserved to be penalized, but highlights that the severity of the punishment varies depending on the driver’s position on the track. Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, also received a penalty at Albert Park last year due to a restart incident, causing him to lose points due to the pack being very close together. Leclerc suggests that the current use of time penalties is flawed, as it relies too much on luck and can lead to inconsistencies in punishments depending on the race situation. He believes a fairer approach would be to penalize drivers by positions, regardless of the circumstances. Although Leclerc acknowledges that the regulations may not cover every possible scenario, he believes common sense should prevail in certain cases, even if the specific situation is not explicitly established in the rules. He suggests that, while the rules can be improved to provide clearer guidelines, there will always be situations where common sense needs to be applied.
