Nico Hulkenberg was given two penalties totalling 15 seconds for abusing track limits during the Bahrain Grand Prix. However, in a departure from past practice, the stewards did not give him any penalty points on his licence.
The Haas driver, who was making his return to F1 for the first time since last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, was found to have left the track “without a justifiable reason” on five occasions during the race. After the third he was shown the black-and-white flag for unsporting conduct in line with the race director’s notes.
When Hulkenberg left the track for the fourth time he was given a five-second time penalty. His fifth violation later in the race incurred an additional 10-second penalty, applied after the race.
Last year drivers who committed enough track limits penalties to receive a penalty were also given a single penalty point on their licences. This happened for Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu and Sebastian Vettel in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Drivers have repeatedly criticised the issuing of penalty points for minor violations such as track limits. The change indicates their concerns have been acted on.
Last year three Formula 2 drivers collected one-race bans during the course of the season for incurring 12 penalty points, some of which were issued for track limits abuses. Oliver Caldwell picked up seven penalty points in the Bahrain round alone, all for exceeding track limits.
F2 CEO Bruno Michel said last year giving drivers penalty points for track limits was “too harsh” and he wanted the rule to be looked at.
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2023 Bahrain Grand Prix
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