In Portugal we do have controversial cases with small linguistic errors in decrees or other official documents where the choice of words was confusing, ambiguous or in some cases unfortunate. Now, in Formula 1, something similar happens.
This Sunday, Fernando Alonso finished the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in third place and celebrated on the podium with the necessary pomp. Then it all collapsed.
The driver was penalized during the race, and when he carried out the penalty, at a pit stop, the mechanics could not work the car. And it didn’t work out, even if the definition of this concept is completely vague – dictionaries contain at least ten definitions of the word “work”.
What is certain is that after the race, the stewards discovered that a mechanic had touched a jack on the back of the single seater and penalized Alonso with ten seconds, a penalty that removed him from the podium.
Later, with protest from the Aston Martin team, the decision was reversed, with the rules talking about the mechanics not being able to work on the car. And playing, even with a monkey, is different from working.
VAR in F1?
The commissioners realized there was a lack of clarity in the definition of “work”, and in the face of protest from Aston Martin – which even showed videos of similar situations going unpunished – the FIA had no choice but to reverse the penalty and promise to revise the rule.
At the next meeting of the FIA’s advisory committee, scheduled for Thursday, the rule will be reconsidered. Basically, an explanation is needed. The distinction between “play” and “work” is a good start to defuse disagreements in a sport clearly recovering from the media and already used to the ongoing regulatory controversies.
The key: Aston Martin convinced the FIA that just because a cat touches a car doesn’t mean it’s “working” in it. This “work” has been affected, and before the “new evidence” the FIA has no reason to reassert itself after the penalty.
Therefore, the penalty was abolished. pic.twitter.com/Mcnh3uBmkx
– Victorabad (@victorabadf1) March 19, 2023
In a second, although it hasn’t been there for a while, there is already talk of the possibility of a VAR in Formula 1. This decision to punish Alonso came after the race, something that prevented the Spaniard from increasing the pace of the race in search. from recovery. That wasted time – in essence, trying to win back the podium the stewards took from him after the race, but which he could have taken during the race.
A group of video referees capable of making faster decisions would have avoided this problem and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see F1 succumb to this path.
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