F1 Rules and limited number of parts

bayo000 · 27 Jul 2021 at 12:55

Reason for this thread is the Hamilton & Verstapen crash but please don’t discuss it here as this is a general thought I already had a while back.

With teams/ drivers being limited to use set number of certain parts, should a driver involved in a crash that wasn’t his fault be allowed free replacement/ rebuild if one of those parts got damaged in the crash?

Maybe the extent of what team would be allowed to change/ repair could be tied to penalty that driver deemed to cause the accident was given.

And the other one that could make things a bit more interesting. If during the qualifying a driver impedes another driver’s lap. Should the driver whose lap was compromised have the option to switch grid position if the other driver qualifies higher?

SoliD · 28 Jul 2021 at 10:32

bayo000 said:
Reason for this thread is the Hamilton & Verstapen crash but please don’t discuss it here as this is a general thought I already had a while back.

With teams/ drivers being limited to use set number of certain parts, should a driver involved in a crash that wasn’t his fault be allowed free replacement/ rebuild if one of those parts got damaged in the crash?

Maybe the extent of what team would be allowed to change/ repair could be tied to penalty that driver deemed to cause the accident was given.

And the other one that could make things a bit more interesting. If during the qualifying a driver impedes another driver’s lap. Should the driver whose lap was compromised have the option to switch grid position if the other driver qualifies higher?

They get an extra 100k for major accidents in sprint races so no it's all been accounted for and set based upon crashes incurred during the year.

bayo000 · 28 Jul 2021 at 10:59

SoliD said:
They get an extra 100k for major accidents in sprint races so no it's all been accounted for and set based upon crashes incurred during the year.

It's not about the money but more to do with potential grid penalties for going over the allowed number of parts.

Steeps · 28 Jul 2021 at 11:43

That's the cost and risk of taking part, if you can't afford parts for your car then hire drivers who will play it safer and preserve the parts you have. This happens all the time with backmarker teams where the rookie smashes the only development wing on a kerb and they have to run the old spec for a few races until a new one can be produced, or teams with a bigger budget will fly one out for the next session.

It might "cost" £1.3m to replace his car, but that's man hours RBR are already paying and spare parts they'll already have produced. The amount of air time RBR have had from this incident is a lot more exposure than £1.3m of regular advertising would buy.

bayo000 · 28 Jul 2021 at 12:01

As I said it's nothing to do with money, that's for teams to manage, but a driver potentially getting a grid penalty later in the season for something that wasn't their fault to begin with.

SoliD · 28 Jul 2021 at 12:10

Has happened since they've brought in the restrictions. All part and parcel of the rules! Should build them stronger if they don't want them ruined but then that comes at reduced power and increased weight so its a balancing act.