If you are a hard racing Brit, expect ridiculous penalties

[Monty]

From BBC - it seems Paul will suffer the same as that other hard charging racer, Lewis Hamilton

Paul di Resta has hit-out at the drive-through penalty he incurred during the Canadian Grand Prix, branding the decision "ridiculous".

The Force India driver was deemed to be at fault for colliding with Renault's Nick Heidfeld while attempting an overtaking manoevre.

The Scot is adamant that he was not to blame for the collision and urged his team to pursue the matter further.

"It's not even harsh, it's ridiculous," di Resta said.

"I'd had a chance of passing Heidfeld the lap before the incident but thought I'd bide my time.

"I got another run on him, got alongside him, but where he was trying to brake and what he was trying to do, he was never going to make the chicane and he took my front wing off," di Resta continued.

"So I had to stop for a wing change and I got a drive-through penalty, which again I thought was harsh.

"I don't see how I was at fault for that. He came in front of me, yet I still made the corner and he didn't and all that happened was the front-wing end plate came off, so I didn't batter him."

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Obviously I'm going to be down and disappointed, but when I arrive at the next grand prix I have to be fully focused on trying to achieve more
Paul di Resta
 Di Resta was in fifth place in Sunday's grand prix before the incident with Heidfeld but eventually retired from the race with two laps remaining following another unsuccessful overtake on Williams' Rubens Barrichello.

The 25-year-old has now been penalised twice in as many races after he received a penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix following another overtaking incident, on that occasion involving Jaime Alguersuari, but he feels the latest sanction was unfair.

"This time, I feel it was definitely not deserving of a drive-through, which was precious in terms of time," Di Resta said.

"It definitely needs investigating."

Di Resta concedes the last two races of his debut Formula One season have been "massively challenging", but he is looking forward to getting back on the grid at the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

"We live to fight another day," he added. "I've just got to give myself a few days before I think too much about it.

"Obviously I'm going to be down and disappointed, but when I arrive at the next grand prix, I have to be fully focused on trying to achieve more.

"It's tough because the decision was hard, but I can't beat myself up too much about it."

[John S]

I'm starting to think that a lot of incidents happen because of the hay cutter front wings on all the cars now, a lot of misjudgements seem to be caused because the drivers cannot see, or judge, the ends of the wings properly.

I know this is not the case in the incident between Paul and Nick but a whole lot of the get togethers in Monaco, Canada and some races before, can be explained as poor spatial awareness of the front of the cars by the drivers.This was not a problem for the last few years as overtaking was all but impossible with the areo wash and the oh so durable Bridgestone tyres.

Now the drivers expect to overtake more than once each race maybe it's exposed a flaw in the present F1 front wing design?    Perhaps it's time to look at the regs and make front wings a bit more race friendly, before we hang permanent labels all the hard chargers as crazy dodgem car drivers.



   

[Scott]

Or they could stick little orange flags on the corners so the drivers know where the wings are exactly 

I think if a driver damages his car during an altercation to the point that he has to pit (cut a tire, or damage a wing), then that is penalty enough (especially since Heidfeld was able to continue until he rear-ended Kobi).  I still think he would have finished last regardless of an additional drivethru or not since a wing change is such a long stop.  DiResta should try to make headlines a different way than complaining.

I agree about the front wings though John - way too wide.  And with all the aero work done to the endplates, it makes knocking one off extremely dangerous.  It used to be less critical, and sometimes a driver could make it to the end or at least to the next pit stop if just the endplate was knocked off.

[Jericoke]

Road cars are equipped with 'parking sonar' to keep scratches off bumpers in tight quarters.

It shouldn't be too tough to adapt this to F1.  An audio warning... or (another) light on the dash would let drivers know when they're tight to someone... or when someone is tight to them.

[lkjohnson1950]

Isn't it funny that Kobi seems to be able to pass without barging into other people? As far as Lewis is concerned, I don't believe there has been a successful pass at the Hairpin at Monaco since the '60s. The cars have to be specially modified just to make it around the turn single file. What was he thinking?

Lonny

[Ian]

Schumacher managed it this year, but then he is the master.

[Scott]

Rosberg shouldn't be considered a 'pass'.  Not only is Loews one of the most difficult corners to pass at Monaco, it's also probably the easiest to defend.   

Rosberg could have made Schumi pay for that pass, but he probably was told not to.

[Ian]

That we'll never probably know Scott, but I'll just put it down to masterful overtaking. 

[Alianora La Canta]

Isn't it funny that Kobi seems to be able to pass without barging into other people? As far as Lewis is concerned, I don't believe there has been a successful pass at the Hairpin at Monaco since the '60s. The cars have to be specially modified just to make it around the turn single file. What was he thinking?

Lonny

Fisi managed it against Rosberg in 2006 (Sutil overtook 3 people there in 2008, but I tend not to count that one as the cars being passed were stuck in a queue - when the cars are moving at about 3 mph, they can queue double-file).