F1 agrees Friday penalties need revising – Horner

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says Formula 1 chief Ross Brawn agrees penalties picked up during practice must be changed in the future as it often ends up “too harsh for the crime” after Pierre Gasly was slapped with a pit lane start at the end of FP2 in Azerbaijan.

Gasly saw his Azerbaijan Grand Prix wrecked before it truly began when he was hit with a pit lane start penalty for ignoring FIA orders to go to the weighbridge at the end of the second practice session on Friday.

With Gasly and Red Bull focusing on practicing a double stack pit stop, Horner accepts the fault is on both his team and the French driver for not spotting the FIA calls at the end of FP2 but feels the punishment – as per FIA sporting regulations – does not fit the crime.

Horner duly raised the issue in an F1 team boss meeting the day after at the Baku City Circuit and feels confident his complaints will be listened to with potential rule changes in the future.

“I think everybody agreed in a meeting we had yesterday [Saturday during the Azerbaijan GP] with Ross Brawn and all of the teams that penalties on Friday that affect the rest of the weekend needs a bit of a revisit,” Horner said. “I think that penalty was too harsh for the crime that was committed.

“If he had been 15kgs underweight, the penalty would’ve been the same. Unfortunately he wasn’t!”

“Obviously the driver is the one that sees the light but usually there is also a reminder. But we were focused on doing a double pit stop, he was told to push to practice the pit lane entry, which is a bit different here

“He had a snap of oversteer on the way in, the lights are here, he was focused on the team preparing for a double pit stop for Max, so it was just one of those things.”