F1 stars band together in condemning 'JOKE' rules imposed at Qatar Grand Prix
F1 stars band together in condemning 'JOKE' rules imposed at Qatar Grand Prix
Discontent is brewing among F1 drivers regarding track limits and penalties.
During the Qatar Grand Prix, a total of 51 infractions were recorded, though that is still below the season record of 86 in Austria.
Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon all received more than one 5-second penalty on Sunday.
This has led to criticism of the severity of the sanctions, particularly from Aston Martin's Stroll.
Stroll: We do not gain an advantage
“It's a joke that they give penalties for this,” he said. "They don't understand what Formula 1 is these days.
"What they're doing to us, giving us track limit penalties and making the track narrower, then telling us we can't go over the curbs because the tyres fail if we do... I think that the runway limit issue is something that needs to be addressed.
“We saw in Austria and this weekend people getting penalised. It's not like we gain an advantage when you go off the track for three millimetres.
"I felt like we had a good race finishing ninth on track, only to end up finishing 11th with two penalties. It's really a frustrating result to get nothing.”
Perez: It's a joke
Red Bull's Perez, who started Sunday's race from the pitlane after a penalty was imposed on him after crashing out in the Sprint, echoed Stroll's views.
“I gained so much margin, I lost so much lap time, but I still had more [penalties]," he said.
"For me, it was very difficult to judge. There were drivers who were capable of doing it, so I don't think I did a good enough job in that regard.
"But I also think it was a joke what we ended up doing with the track limits."
READ MORE: F1 pundit insists Stroll 'wouldn't be driving at this level next year' if father didn't own team
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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