FIA race director Michael Masi said Daniil Kvyat penalty in the United States Grand Prix was “clear cut”, despite the Toro Rosso driver’s complaints about being relegated out of the points for the second time in as many races.
Kvyat, who was given a 10-second penalty in Mexico for tangling with Nico Hulkenberg, was given a five-second penalty last weekend for colliding with Sergio Perez. He criticised both penalties, saying they discouraged drivers from racing.Masi acknowledged Kvyat’s Perez collision was not as serious a violation as his previous incident with Hulkenberg. “[He] was a lot more ‘up there’ than what he was with the incident with Nico,” said Masi.
But Masi insisted the penalty was a “fairly clear cut” decision. “He went for the late-braking manoeuvre, contact resulted, so the stewards had a look at it, got all the vision and made their determination,” he said.
The stewards chose not to not summon either driver and issued the penalty within minutes of the race finishing.
Masi said Kvyat’s criticism of the penalty was “understandable” given the circumstances. “I’ve never found two people involved in an incident where one comes off penalised and one doesn’t that someone’s not unhappy.”
Drivers have generally become more accepting of the FIA’s efforts to make penalties clearer, according to Masi.
“It’s becoming more and more clear, and something that I have done and will continue to discuss with the drivers,” he said. “I’m trying to call it let’s ‘narrow the shades of grey’, is probably the easiest way to describe it. We are all working collaboratively together to do that, and they’re very much on board with that as well.”
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Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th November 2019, 8:14
I personally thought Kvyat’s contact with Perez was hardly any different to Verstappen and Leclerc in Austria. If it was that clear that it should get one, I think Verstappen should have too in Austria. They both ran very very wide and ran the other driver off track.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
6th November 2019, 9:18
You are correct. However, in Austria, they chose life instead of getting killed by the Dutch mob outside.
Sergey Martyn
6th November 2019, 11:57
Hahaha! Made me day!
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
6th November 2019, 13:14
Max is the stewards golden boy they let that guy get away with things that other drivers don’t just because he brings more money into the sport.
Chaitanya
6th November 2019, 13:42
Monza 2018, USA 2017, etc… if anything Max gets the most penalties and has never gotten away with anything.
Aapje (@aapje)
6th November 2019, 17:54
Carlos has huge bias, just let him have his truth.
Balue (@balue)
6th November 2019, 20:05
No surprise here. Kvyat is lower rung, with a history of bad moves and Russian as well.
The incident in itself, and how it compares to others matters little. Guilty until proven innocent.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
6th November 2019, 9:55
Having finally seen the video, I agree clear cut penalty. Maybe if he hadn’t of hit the kerb so hard on the inside, he could have saved from bouncing straight into Perez. The initial overtake looked good and very opportunistic, but it just ended up being clumsy. Also only seemed possible by how much Kvyat gained in breaking in the yellow flag zone.
regs (@regs)
6th November 2019, 19:46
Video from both cameras clearly shows Kvyat did have a line. Bouncing, not bouncing, he was still on the apex.
PeterF
8th November 2019, 10:02
so what? that doesn’t mean he should be able to just ram people off the track on the exit
regs (@regs)
8th November 2019, 15:56
Yes it does. Perez lost the corner and run wide. The game was over for him. He shouldn’t have been move his car across the apex.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th November 2019, 10:26
Checo managed to overtake Kvyat cleanly into that corner earlier in the race, but not the other way round later with the places swapped, LOL. Kvyat equally should’ve been able to pass him cleanly, although to be honest, he only really got into a position where he could attempt a passing move on him by ‘testing the limits’ with the yellow-flags. Attempting to pass under yellows is worse than an attempt to set a meaningful lap time under yellows.
https://youtu.be/21b565y1bxI?t=108
regs (@regs)
6th November 2019, 19:46
It wasn’t under yellow flag
José Lopes da Silva
7th November 2019, 9:36
I do Kvyat’s maneuver all the time in racing videogames and I don’t get penalized.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
7th November 2019, 16:04
Kvyat’s penalty was extremely clear in USA. Even with crashing into Perez, he failed to actually make the corner. He just went straight. To me, both his Mexico and USA crashes reek of desperation. At the start of 2019, he saw an opportunity to rejoin Red Bull. When Albon got the nod, and managed to outscore Verstappen, Kvyat started doing these things again.
Marshall Matthews (@hove9)
7th November 2019, 22:52
I agree. Max escaped the penalty in Austria as he still made the corner. Kvyat is angry because he thinks he’s won a point and then gets informed of the penalty while an interviewer has a microphone in his face right after the race.