I was actually thinking more along the lines of speeding up the process of stewarding decisions, because every one knew as soon as Alonso did it, he deserved a penalty.
But again, I don't have suggestions how to do that, I just think its a problem that should be looked at.
And its not just a timed event. Track position means more than just finishing an arbitrary number of positions behind. Where you are in traffic it determines how fast you can go, if you get stuck behind slow(er) cars like Kubica for example, this can have a huge effect on your overall race.
But I never said a position penalty should be applied - I never suggested anything other than perhaps not even giving a penalty at all.
I'm merely pointing out that I think its wrong that penalties should alter due to race conditions, particularly when the driver can alter the severity of the penalty himself (like Rosberg putting in those laps at Singapore 2008). Its like saying "you did wrong, but its ok if you can race fast enough to get out of the penalty".
The problem is, the stewards seem to be consulting the teams. They were in talks with Renault and Ferrari, but the rules are in black and white, you overtake off the track, you give the place back or get a drive through penalty. Ferrari should have known this, they hoped that the Stewards would turn a blind eye as they argued 'Alonso was forced off the track' (Which I actually believe he was in a sense, but it wasn't unfair of Kubica to do so, thats what you get for overtaking on the outside). Because Ferrari tried to make their case, it forced the Stewards to take a closer look at the incident and consult both teams before issuing the punishment. What they should have done is told them to give the place back straight away, and had Ferrari not contested the protest from Renault/Kubica over the incident, then the penalty (To give the place back) would have come much sooner (i.e. while Kubica was still on-track) and Alonso would not have recieved a drive through.
The jist of what I just explained is, Ferrari let themselves get a drivethrough by first deciding not to give the place back and then trying to make a case for Alonso with the Stewards which delayed their decision. Which of course, one of the Ferrari guys then commented on after the race, saying delays in Steward decisions cost them again even though it was their fault the Stewards took so long.
But not only that, steward decisions look at the specific incident, and give the penalty irrespective of the track conditions at a time, so you could lose no places, or you could lose 20. The problem is when the penalty itself is disproportionate to the incident. But in this case I think, the Stewards got it dead right with Alonso. Just like they got it dead wrong with Schumacher at Monaco.
Well... here's the thing... if you can race fast enough to alter the severity of the penalty, without the penalty, you'd have actually gained time on the guy in front of you or passed a few more cars for a gain in points.
Which means you have missed an opportunity to score higher or win the race.
Hamilton's penalty, from a points perspective, didn't seem to hurt him. in fact, he had a halfway decent chance of actually catching Vettel and pressuring him within the last ten laps or so. Whether he could have overtaken him or not is another matter... but that's still opportunity lost due to a penalty.
The fact that he didn't lose a place, either, is all Kobayashi's fault (not as if Kobayashi did anything wrong... he just didn't have the pace). Not his own.
The thing with Kobayashi at Valencia is no different from Rosberg at Silverstone in my opinion. The pace of the Mclaren is way ahead of the rest of the pack (Bar the Red Bulls and possibly the Ferrari at this circuit). Jenson got stuck in traffic as usual (So he saved his tires and decided to jump pretty much everyone in the pit stops again - which he did), so only Lewis' pace was a true indication. The gap from Hamilton to Rosberg was much the same as the gap from Hamilton to Kobayashi. Kobayashi's pace was excellent in the last race, but not even the Mercedes of Rosberg can keep up with Hamilton in his Mclaren. I think only the Ferrari of Alonso or the Mclaren of Button has the pace to match Hamilton (Besides the Red Bulls) but they keep getting stuck in traffic from either poor qualifying or poor starts.
If Hamilton had a penalty here in the latter stages of the race, he would have stayed ahead of Rosberg too (Well, he had the same sort of gap, but I think the pitlane is longer, so it would have been close.
Again, Alonso was just unlucky that his penalty came at the same time as a safety car, which put him a lot further back than he would have been had there been no safety car (I think we can blame Sutil for that. Or was it Liuzzi? Whoever ran into the back of De La Rosa).
I believe he served the penalty then because 3 laps had passed since the penalty was issued, and if he had gone another lap under full course greens he would have been penalized further...although I'm not exactly sure if laps under caution count toward the "3 laps to serve your penalty" clause once the safety car comes in...can anyone clarify this?
I'm glad I didn't though. It was a pleasure to see Seb and Felipe pushing 110% trying to catch up. At least one of my drivers managed points.
