Too many rules in F1: "This takes a bit of the fun out of trying"

F1 News

6 July 2021 at 12:24
Last update 6 July 2021 at 13:51
  • GPblog.com

No fewer than seven time penalties were handed out during the Austrian Grand Prix. Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin were each given a five or ten-second penalty and Sergio Perez even got two.

Formula 1 is over-regulated

Renger van der Zande is currently competing in the American IMSA Championship, where he is a teammate of former Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen. The Dutchman won the race in Detroit and is currently fifth in the championship.

At Motorsport.com Van der Zande reveals he is not a fan of the many time penalties in Formula 1. "In America, very few penalties are handed out. That makes it a wild race from time to time, but I don't like those penalties. If you really do something that can't be done, then you have to give a penalty, but here you seem to get away with nothing. That makes it a bit over-regulated."

The heat of the battle

"This takes a bit of the fun out of trying," Van der Zande continued. "You just have to let this happen." As an example, he cites the penalty for Lando Norris. "He did drive a bit wide, but if you look closely at the footage, Perez was a bit behind so he could have applied his brakes earlier."

Van der Zande would prefer to see the five- or ten-second time penalties disappear. "They can scrap those as far as I'm concerned. Make sure there is racing. We want to see them fly a bit, without them going off. If you're fighting in the heat of the moment, you have to be able to drive into each other once."