Each Formula 1 driver is prohibited from using more than three engines per season without incurring a penalty, but it is rare that someone manages to finish an entire course within the rules.
Many teams made the decision to penalize Spa and Monza by changing some elements of their power unit to take advantage of the overtaking opportunities that these tracks offer compared to the rest, but this caused controversy as to how the starting grid would be aligned due to the large number of penalties that had to be applied.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes the FIA needed to clarify how those penalties were applied to define the starting grid, as well as making it faster, as well as considering an increase in the allowed number of engine elements before penalizing.
“The reason it took so long [to publish the grid] is that there are different interpretations and the regulations are not clear enough,” Binotto said.
“I also think the number of penalties we had is too much.”
“It’s difficult for a fan to understand, I think, the fact of seeing a car on pole and not starting from pole because it has grid penalties. So maybe the three power units allowed per driver in the same year is too short a number.
“Perhaps you have to reconsider it for the next few seasons,” concluded the Ferrari man .
In the Spa race, Max Verstappen took pole position in qualifying on Saturday, but dropped to 14th on the grid after penalties were applied.
At Monza , nine drivers saw their grid positions altered due to power unit changes, with the FIA taking several hours to publish the provisional starting grid, also prompting teams and drivers to inquire at their social media if anyone knew where they needed to go about three hours after the qualifying session.
That has caused the FIA itself to ask for a more simplified process to avoid this confusion, which also provides a faster response on how the starting grid will be made once qualifying has finished.
Currently, drivers receive a penalty of 10 positions on the starting grid the first time they exceed the limit established for each element of the power unit for the same season, and a loss of five more places for each extra component they add to excess list. This rule does not seem to please some teams, since if you have a much superior car, from the first sanction, the following ones would be practically ‘free’.
