The procedure for applying penalties in Formula 1 is controversial enough – even before you get into the subject of what happens if circumstances mean a driver is unable to serve that penalty during the race.
F1’s sporting regulations include a stipulation that when "a driver is unable to serve the penalty due to being unclassified… the stewards may impose a grid place penalty on the driver at their next race".
So when Oscar Piastri made a mess of the start in Azerbaijan – launching before the lights went out, stopping, having to resolve an anti-stall issue, then crashing out on the opening lap – some sort of penalty was inevitable.
The penalty for jumping the start, or being out of position on the grid, is a 5 or 10s penalty, or a drive-through, depending on the magnitude of the breach.
Piastri was given a 5s time penalty but this will not be converted into a grid penalty for Singapore.
Earlier this year, to add some clarity over what penalties are applied and when, the FIA published its guidelines document for penalties and penalty points. Previously available only to FIA personnel, it entered the public domain for the first time.
The document was published after the Canadian Grand Prix, where there had been a minor furore over Lando Norris’s 5s penalty for colliding with Piastri. Since Norris had already crashed out, but had completed enough laps to be classified in the results, the 5s was added to his race time.
There were those who regarded this as a toothless sanction since it did not amount to a penalty at all.
So the FIA’s guidelines illuminated the reason for not converting the penalty to a subsequent event. The document includes a note clarifying when penalties are carried forwards:
"In cases where there is a single 5s penalty which a driver is unable to serve due to retirement, the Stewards will not convert that into a grid penalty for a subsequent race. However, if there is more than one penalty, the Stewards may convert the 5s (and other) penalties into a grid penalty."
The rationale for this is that offences of a minor order typically attract the lowest penalty – 5s – so carrying them forward into a grid penalty would be considered excessive.
In this case, Piastri received no competitive advantage by jumping the start – not only did he halt immediately, he did not interfere with any other competitors’ races before eliminating himself by hitting the wall.
