FIA may change qualifying blocking rule - Warwick

F1 may revisit the rules about impeding other drivers in qualifying, according to FIA steward Derek Warwick.

Warwick, a former F1 driver, was on the panel that decided to penalise Sebastian Vettel three places on the grid in Austria, even though Carlos Sainz did not blame the German for blocking him.


"I think it's the result of all of the drivers complaining that someone did this or someone did that," Ferrari's Vettel said.

Warwick, though, said the stewards had to punish the German last weekend.

"Our hands are tied," he said. "The rules demand it.

"It has already caught out other drivers further down the grid, so you can't punish them and not the big guys," the Briton told Auto Motor und Sport.

But Warwick revealed that the FIA is now thinking about a rule tweak.

"Maybe there would only be a penalty if the action was dangerous or the affected driver doesn't get into the next session or loses places," he said.

Replies (4)

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  • It was unfortunate, but I saw why it happened, and it was a fair penalty.

    • + 0
    • Jul 5 2018 - 19:24
  • wongrayw

    Posts: 17

    another FIA backup for Ferrari error

    • + 0
    • Jul 5 2018 - 19:59
  • boudy

    Posts: 1,168

    Consistency seems so far away. It has gotten a little bit better of late. The whole facade that was shown on Sky about the stewards made me chuckle. No collusion with Ferrari and Mercedes according to Derek. We will see the next time an Mercedes driver takes out an Redbull. However I was surprised that they didn't give a penalty to Verstappen since he had a touch with Raikkonen.

    • + 0
    • Jul 5 2018 - 23:45
  • f1ski

    Posts: 726

    perhaps they need to limit laps to qualify so cars won't have to be out there so often in q1 and 2

    • + 0
    • Jul 6 2018 - 12:41

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