Three strikes and you're out

Brogan

Legend
Staff Member
Ever wondered what the point of a reprimand was?
You have? Well wonder no longer.

The FIA is set to introduce a ‘three strikes’ rule by the British GP to ensure that reprimands for drivers are no longer meaningless, this blog can reveal.

Last weekend in Spain Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber all escaped with reprimands for going too quickly under yellows at the scene of Heikki Kovalainen’s accident.

When such penalties are handed out rivals often complain that they have no value, and thus are of little deterrent to those involved.

Now if a driver gets three reprimands in a season he will be handed a five-place grid penalty.

At least two of the offences must involve driving, as in theory reprimands can also be handed out for being late for the official drivers’ briefing or FIA press conference. Unusually, Paul di Resta received one for missing a weight check in Turkey.
The system will be introduced for the British GP.

Original article here: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/05/24/fia-to-introduce-three-strikes-grid-penalties/
 
In theory it was something similar to this that caused Hamiltons penalty in Malaysia wasn't it?
 
Hmm I'm not keen on this system at all, an incident should either be deserving of a penalty or not. A reprimand is still good in my opinion as it serves as a way of letting drivers know what is unacceptable and that if it is repeated it will be punished. Also imagine if a WDC was decided because of a 3rd reprimand... Wouldn't look good for F1 would it?
 
I haven't agreed with Eddie Jordan often this year, but I found myself nodding in approval when he commented on the reprimands after the race.

They were either guilty of an infringement or they weren't. There should be no place for a "reprimand" if you cannot prove there was any wrong-doing in the first place. If they deserved a "reprimand", they deserved a penalty.

To use one of EJ's favorite terms, "This is a nonsense".
 
Good idea - it should deter drivers from doing anything against the rules if they can help it
 
I quite like this idea.I am not in favour of the penalty syndrome in F1 and this to me seems a reasonable step.
The reasons for this reprimand were for failing to slow for yellow flags.According to McLaren and Red Bull all three drivers were off throttle at the time so the telemetery could not show that they lifted off the accellerator.
This method seems to be a fair and reasonable solution.
 
all three drivers were off throttle at the time.

Precisely. So why the need for a reprimand?

I wasn't calling for them to be penalized, and I'm certainly not calling for more penalties in general, but if you can't find anything to penalize them for, there should not be ANY action taken.

Seems the FIA wanted to save face here (shocking, I know), and when they couldn't prove anybody did anything wrong whatsoever, they came up with this cockamamie scheme.
 
Precisely. So why the need for a reprimand?

I wasn't calling for them to be penalized, and I'm certainly not calling for more penalties in general, but if you can't find anything to penalize them for, there should not be ANY action taken.

Seems the FIA wanted to save face here (shocking, I know), and when they couldn't prove anybody did anything wrong whatsoever, they came up with this cockamamie scheme.

Fair point Keke.
I agree that there was indeed no need for a reprimand, so why were they issued.
Regarding the idea of the three reprimand and then a grid penalty that is that what I meant when I said that I like the idea.
Got our wires a bit crossed there.
BTW (off topic) Who holds the lap record at Paul Ricard?
 
Seems the FIA wanted to save face here (shocking, I know), and when they couldn't prove anybody did anything wrong whatsoever, they came up with this cockamamie scheme.

Strangely enough, Mark Blundell (the driver on the Steward panel at the Spanish GP) refused to answer any questions put to him by the BBC presenting team after the race. Not even his old mate Martin Brundle could winkle an answer out of him and he made a sharp exit when repeatedly asked why a reprimand was given.

I agree with you Keke. If they couldn't prove any wrong doing, no penalty (or reprimand) should be given.
 
Hmm, 3 "in a season". So if you get two in the final two races, and then two in the first two races of the following year, you're ok?

Surely a suspended penalty would work as well - effectively 2 strikes and you're out?
 
This is all a bit "HR" and football. If they are found in breach of a rule, you either penalize them or leave them alone. Arrant nonsense.
 
They have telemetry for throttle opening and brake pressures.
That would indicate they were either maintaining current entry speed or slowing down on engine braking alone.
Do they just have to maintain their current speed or less (not accelerate) under yellow flags?
Is there any noticeable engine braking in F1?
The evidence is that they weren't accelerating (no throttle opening recorded / off throttle) therefore they must have been maintaining their entry speed or slowing through engine braking. So no penalty / reprimand should be applied.
 
Is there any noticeable engine braking in F1?
Don't know about engine braking specifically, but I did hear it said once that if a driver comes off the throttle while travelling at high speed, the downforce alone provides about 1g of braking. So even a small 'lift' of the right foot should produce a not insignificant slowing.
 
Do they just have to maintain their current speed or less (not accelerate) under yellow flags?

As far as I'm aware the rule states you aren't allowed to set a faster sector time where the yellow flag is

Andyoak said:
Is there any noticeable engine braking in F1?

As in any car, yes there is and with one that is using kers more so.
 
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