Grosjean banned. Reasoning?

[thearmofbarlow]

You crash a number of competitors out of the race in separate incidents and that's just a bit of a fine and don't do that again. You crash them all out at once and you get banned for a race. Brilliant, FIA. Love your reasoning there. Let's base our decisions on the amount of carnage rather than intent.

So I guess we now know what it'll take for Mr. Penalty to actually sit out a race. Just keep crashing one at a time, Pastor. You'll be fined but still race.

[Blue fellow]

Are you upset with Grosjeans penalty? Or with Maldonaldo's supposed lack of penalties? Or both?

I think Grosjean penalty was perfectly fair, coming from a Lotus fan too. He put a lot of drivers in a very dangerous situation physically, and he also hurt their standing in the championship.

But on Maldonaldo, I think he was penalized pretty lightly in the past, the crash with Perez comes to mind. When I first read that Maldonaldo only received a fine, and no grid penalty for the next race or anything, that frustrated me. Though I don't cheer for Perez, or Sauber. I love Sauber as a company. If I was cheering for Perez or Sauber, that frustration would probably be anger.

[GrizzleBoy]

While I'm happy the FIA didn't just gloss over todays incident.....

I too am sickened at how they grabbed Grosjean by the neck and threw him in a dungeon without hesitation like an iron fisted representation of law, yet they continue to simply cower behind the 50 foot stick they use to periodically poke Maldonado on his arm every time he does something naughty.

[beelsebob]

You crash a number of competitors out of the race in separate incidents and that's just a bit of a fine and don't do that again. You crash them all out at once and you get banned for a race. Brilliant, FIA. Love your reasoning there. Let's base our decisions on the amount of carnage rather than intent.

I think the issue was actually crashing them out in such a way that a car flew within half a foot of a driver's head.

[GrizzleBoy]

You crash a number of competitors out of the race in separate incidents and that's just a bit of a fine and don't do that again. You crash them all out at once and you get banned for a race. Brilliant, FIA. Love your reasoning there. Let's base our decisions on the amount of carnage rather than intent.

I think the issue was actually crashing them out in such a way that a car flew within half a foot of a driver's head.

The point is though, every crash has the potential to be fatal.

If you give a driver the idea that he may continue doing so with barely a truly meaningful penalty as long as his crashes don't almost kill someone, its going to be on your hands when they finally do.

[jdlive]

Shouldn't they be penalizing cause instead of consequence? This is a bit childish.

Grosjean made a small mistake, we've seen way bigger ones this season, both in severity and especially in intent. It's not Grosjean's fault it ended up with an almost decapitated Alonso.

[timbo]

You crash a number of competitors out of the race in separate incidents and that's just a bit of a fine and don't do that again. You crash them all out at once and you get banned for a race. Brilliant, FIA. Love your reasoning there. Let's base our decisions on the amount of carnage rather than intent.

Well, if you remember it is not the first time Grosjean is involved in a start pile-up. You should add also his crashes at Australia, Malaysia, Spain and Britain.

[Shrek]

You crash a number of competitors out of the race in separate incidents and that's just a bit of a fine and don't do that again. You crash them all out at once and you get banned for a race. Brilliant, FIA. Love your reasoning there. Let's base our decisions on the amount of carnage rather than intent.

I think the issue was actually crashing them out in such a way that a car flew within half a foot of a driver's head.

The point is though, every crash has the potential to be fatal.

If you give a driver the idea that he may continue doing so with barely a truly meaningful penalty as long as his crashes don't almost kill someone, its going to be on your hands when they finally do.

that's what i was thinking when i heard about the penalty, and it goes back to the nascar pit road incident at michigan, an out of control car can find unsafe place, if alonso got a bad start, i wouldn't think ro gro wouldn't be issued a penalty

[thearmofbarlow]

While I'm happy the FIA didn't just gloss over todays incident.....

I too am sickened at how they grabbed Grosjean by the neck and threw him in a dungeon without hesitation like an iron fisted representation of law, yet they continue to simply cower behind the 50 foot stick they use to periodically poke Maldonado on his arm every time he does something naughty.

This exactly. I'm not saying Grosjean's penalty wasn't warranted, I'm saying where is the consistency? Was Jarno Trulli penalized for driving up Karun Chandhok's ass-end? No. But because there was a lot of carbon on the ground and he hit some people at the top of the WDC food chain, Grosjean gets penalized.

What would the response be if this happened further back in the grid? If Kovalainen had bumped into Pic (not that the Marussia would ever be beside another car. ) and crashed out Senna, Glock, de la Rosa, and Ricciardo would the penalty have been as bad? No. No it would not have. Absolutely not. In no possible way.

This is BS. By saying the incident "took leading championship contenders out of the race" you are saying, point blank, that they are worth more than those at the back of the grid.

BULLSHIT.

If it is unsafe driving penalize it as such and be done there. If you're going to start penalizing for bumping into people in contention for the WDC then where was Maldonado's race ban for putting Hamilton into a wall? At what point do you decide who's in contention and who isn't? Grosjean may be 100 points out but goddamn all it takes is four good races and a couple of incidents and he's right there with the rest.

The conspiracy theorist in my wants to say that by "leading championship contender" they meant to say "a Ferrari". Luckily that guy only exists to close out posts.

[thearmofbarlow]

I think the issue was actually crashing them out in such a way that a car flew within half a foot of a driver's head.

Any crash could do that in an open wheel situation. Any wheel to wheel contact could end up with a car flying through the air. For as long as physics exists that WILL be the case. To penalize someone extra because of how their car reacted to contact is ridiculous.

Put it this way. What if he hadn't left the ground? What if he had simply run into the same people? Same result. Same people out of the race. Same damage. Only Grosjean's car didn't at any point lose contact with the road. What would you say then?

Penalizing based on result is idiotic. Penalizing based on intent makes more sense.

[jdlive]

I think the issue was actually crashing them out in such a way that a car flew within half a foot of a driver's head.

Any crash could do that in an open wheel situation. Any wheel to wheel contact could end up with a car flying through the air. For as long as physics exists that WILL be the case. To penalize someone extra because of how their car reacted to contact is ridiculous.

Put it this way. What if he hadn't left the ground? What if he had simply run into the same people? Same result. Same people out of the race. Same damage. Only Grosjean's car didn't at any point lose contact with the road. What would you say then?

Penalizing based on result is idiotic. Penalizing based on intent makes more sense.

Very idiotic! It's also a bit sad to see Lewise Hamilton acting the way he did towards Grosjean afterwards. As if he hasn't done a lot more of that himself

[Pup]

Personally, I think race bans should be reserved for intentional incidents. I'd have handed out a few of those this season were I a steward, but I wouldn't have given grosjean one.

[thisisatest]

i wouldve made him start from pit lane for a couple races. that way, it cant happen.

[thearmofbarlow]

i wouldve made him start from pit lane for a couple races. that way, it cant happen.

Is this a penalty that can be handed down? I know that the stewards can hand out as many places in a grid penalty as they want but can they straight up banish someone to the pit lane?

[Jersey Tom]

Here's how it is. Get this:

This is F1. This is top tier open wheel racing. There's an expectation of driver competence to compete at that level. Grosjean isn't showing it with any regularity on these starts. Doesn't matter how quick you are by yourself, if you can't race that's that. First corner of the first lap? WTF is he doing? Doesn't matter if it's unintentional - if you can't keep it together at this level.. time to sit one out.

It's not like this is the first time, either.

That's how I see it anyway. Just one man's opinion. But if the guy can't get it together.. what else is there to do.