https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/so...mple/10370966/
Solution to end fan confusion over F1 grid penalties is ‘pretty simple’
Formula 1 could easily come up with a computer system to publish provisional grids that included penalties within seconds of qualifying finishing, reckons Alpine’s sporting director Alan Permane.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Sep 18, 2022, 10:47 AM
Solution to end fan confusion over F1 grid penalties is ‘pretty simple’
Fans and some teams were left in a state of confusion for nearly four hours after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix when nobody was sure how the FIA would implement a spate of grid penalties and settle on the final line-up.
The uncertainty about the grid, and the length of time it took to be confirmed, prompted suggestions that a better system should be implemented – especially as the FIA regularly waits until scrutineering is complete before issuing any provisional grid.
But F1 stalwart Permane, who has worked in the sport for decades, thinks an obvious solution would be to set up a computer programme that would instantly be able to work out the penalties the second the final cars crossed the line.
For he reckoned that while some teams fully understood the penalties and how they are implemented – which changed in 2020 with drivers now locked in to their grid drops – making things clearer for fans would help everybody.
“We have guidelines from 2020, and I think the grid was formed exactly how it stated in that guideline,” explained Permane.
“That guideline has been developed, was developed with F1 and the FIA, and has been applied consistently since then. So I don’t think there’s any surprises in it. But there might have been among people who didn’t have the guideline, I guess.
“But I do agree that three and three-quarter hours is a bit long to wait for a grid. I think it would be relatively simple for them to publish it as the last car crosses the line, with the proviso it might change after scrutineering or whatever.
“They could plug all the known penalties into something, and it would be better for everybody.”
Fans look on as the grid launches for the start