George Russell has led calls for the way penalty points are handed out in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship to be looked into as Pierre Gasly nears a possible race ban.
Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Gasly has racked up ten penalty points on his Superlicence during the 2022 season and is only two points away from picking up a race ban, something that has yet to happen since the penalty points system was introduced.
But Russell, who races for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and is a director on the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), does not feel Gasly deserves to be as close to a ban as he is.
And Russell has called for an overhaul of the penalty system, with the wish to only see points awarded for dangerous driving rather than for things like exceeding track limits.
The penalty doesn’t fit the crime, especially in Pierre’s case,” Russell is quoted as saying to BBC Sport. “He has some for Safety Car infringements and incidents in practice sessions.
“If anything were to result in a race ban, it needs to be for something pretty reckless and dangerous. I personally don’t associate Pierre with being a reckless or dangerous driver.”
Russell says the FIA will look into the system during the off season, but with two races of the season remaining, as well as the final sprint race of the year, Gasly remains on the verge of a race ban.
“They have expressed that we will have the conversation in the off-season and review all of this,” said Russell. “There is a lot to review this season in many different regards, so the FIA will definitely have a busy off-season.
“In sport, you have to be ready and able to adapt. You have regulations in place and it only takes one incident to recognise maybe the regulation isn’t quite right.
“We need to have the capability to change things and take penalty points away afterwards if we all agree it was incorrect.”
Another driver who agrees with Russell is current Williams Racing driver Alexander Albon, who believes there are points on his own Superlicence – he has seven penalty points in total – that are not deserving to be there.
“I think I have three points on my licence and they are down to track limits, which is something which isn’t dangerous at all,” Albon is quoted as saying by PlanetF1.com. “I’m not harming any other driver or myself in that situation.
“I think I’ve another two points for a collision with [Lance] Stroll in Jeddah, which I think at the end of the race, we, as drivers, deemed wasn’t my fault. So there are a lot of points on my licence which I don’t think I deserved.
“And I think…we are discussing it. I think there will be a change. Firstly, we’ve already got the points on our licence. So what happens then? Because even if we do make steps forward into next year, do the points we just got for previous races, do they stay on or whatever? So, I think we need to do something about it.
“I don’t think any of us are dangerous drivers. I do understand, of course, you should punish drivers if they do dangerous things, but I think a lot of the points everyone has right now aren’t because of dangerous things.”
