FIA will crack down on aggressive driving
7 September, 2012
Sep.7 (GMM) Lotus driver Romain Grosjean may not be racing this weekend, but his name was still used in a lot of conversations at Monza on Thursday, in the aftermath of the Spa start-lap accident.
The Frenchman is serving a one-race ban for the Spa crash a week ago, and most paddock pundits believe the FIA is also ready to clamp down on Pastor Maldonado’s shaky driving in 2012.
The Venezuelan will already serve a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday’s grid.
“This year the stewards seem to be harder, not just for me but generally,” the Williams driver is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
“We have to respect that and adapt to it.”
Mentioning Grosjean or Maldonado’s names to pundits throughout the Monza paddock, and the answer is unanimous: ‘Aggressive’.
“It is one of my characteristics, some like it; some don’t,” Maldonado said.
“It’s difficult to say ‘now I will get this style or I will change that’. I need to think more and evaluate more the situation in the car,” he acknowledged.
Some think Grosjean’s ban is harsh, some say fair, but it is unanimously agreed that the FIA is laying down the law about those sorts of incidents needing to stop.
“Yes, there have been a lot of mistakes this year; things that you just wouldn’t imagine happening at this level,” Spa winner Jenson Button told F1′s official website.
“Maybe this is a good thing to show people that it won’t be tolerated because we are still racing in a dangerous sport.”
Like it or not, it is believed that further action in the area of driving cockpit protection is now inevitable.
The paddock is split.
Michael Schumacher told German reporters that he thinks a forward roll-hoop or a canopy – whatever solution – “must be the future”.
Sebastian Vettel is less enthusiastic, but he agrees: “It is probably unavoidable now.
“I’m not a big fan of it, but probably if you had the chance to choose in the moment when someone comes flying at you, everybody chooses the closed option.
“Therefore it will not take too long before we have it,” the world champion agrees.
Subbed by AJN.
Related posts:
- Spa Practice 2: Season re-start a damp affair
- Mercedes double DRS not massive gain claims Button
- 2011: The good, the bad and the ugly
- Friday team’s FIA press conference
- Hamilton apologises after bust for reckless driving
@McLaren Fan
Lets Be Honest, PASTOR Is Not That Different From LEWIS 2011.
If LEWIS Found A New Patience, He Did Not Have An Year Ago, I Hope PASTOR Follows The Same Path, And Recognize When To Be Aggressive And When To Be Patient.
He Has A Lot Of Raw Potential And I Hope He Is Given The Time To Settle ( I Feel His Time Is Running Out, Though ).
I Would Rather Have 24 Clones Of PASTOR On The Grid Than 24 #3.
Go, HAMILTON !
Yes we want wheel to wheel racing so the odd collision is part of the sport but what we do not want is the likes of Maldonado who is a disaster waiting to happen at almost every turn.
Maldonado says he needs to think more but what he is not seeing is he just doesn’t think at all.
Maldonado always sees himself as innocent big mistake
After FRANCE79 And With Todays Rules GILLES And RENÉ Would Be Both Disqualified For Life.
AGGRESSIVE RACERS, FOREVER !
@Joe Kinnear absolutely agree. Pastor needs a race ban if he has one more stupid move!
My 2 cents on the safety thing. Increase the size of mirrors and increase the height of the cockpit shoulder bolsters on either side of the helmet to preper eye height. Its better than these stupid canopy ideas!
They shouldn’t crack down on aggressive driving, coz aggression is good. But they need to crack down on DUMB driving. There’s a difference between being dumb and aggressive.
Dumb = Maldonado style.
Aggression = Schumi style.