Sebastian Vettel considers Romain Grosjean’s suspension severe

At Spa-Francorchamps, after a chaotic start, Romain Grosjean received a penalty just as spectacular as the accident he caused, notably eliminating Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who was given quite a scare as the Frenchman’s Lotus E20 literally flew over his nose. While no one seems to dispute the validity of such a penalty, the almost unprecedented nature of this sanction, since you have to go back to the 1990s to find a similar instance, leads some to question the consistency of penalties imposed on drivers.

Thus, if Jackie Stewart and Derek Warwick hope that the penalty received by Romain Grosjean will serve as a reminder for all drivers, some find the sanction too severe, foremost among them Sebastian Vettel: « I think the penalty given to Grosjean, not letting him race [at Monza], is very severe. We will always try to make comparisons: he did this and now he is suspended for one race, another only got a drive-through, another only had a fine of 10,000€. This is where sometimes the difficulty lies for the stewards: deciding what is best to do. Not all penalties are necessarily the best at the moment. »

If some believe that the time has come to open a debate on sanctions and the role of commissioners, as well as on driver training or changes to be made to single-seaters to improve visibility, some are questioning the role of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA). The drivers notably meet in a briefing on Friday afternoon and, according to Autosprint, in Belgium, if the rain, the Hungarian Grand Prix, and the drivers’ holidays were at the heart of the discussions, the issue of the start, always delicate at Spa-Francorchamps, was absent from the agenda. Sebastian Vettel, who, along with Felipe Massa, is one of the two directors of the GPDA – chaired by Pedro de la Rosa – nevertheless believes that discussions among drivers are important: « I think it’s very useful to talk among drivers, which we usually do during briefings and when we feel something needs to be discussed or when something is going wrong. Obviously, it’s not something that is talked about or seen during the weekends, but I think the drivers’ briefing can be very useful. »

One thing is certain, while Romain Grosjean will have the entire weekend to contemplate his penalty and his behavior, the paddock finally seems inclined to consider solutions to prevent this type of incident and on-track behavior from happening again.