Penalties and Stewarding in GP2 - Lessons to be learnt by young drivers

Canamasas received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the situation. Palmer told on his blog that after the race he went to Canamasas to talk about the situation. Canamasas told him that he knew he was a lap behind, but didn’t see Palmer in his mirror. Palmer wasn’t pleased and called the Spaniard idiot with an f-word. Later on, Palmer was summoned by the stewards but the former thought it was Canamasas who was under investigation.

But no. It was Palmer himself who was under investigation. A track worker heard the conversation between Palmer and Canamasas and reported it to the FIA. Palmer had to explain the situation to the stewards and stewards made a decision: they gave Palmer a €12,000 fine and warned him of a possible race ban.

It’s strange to see something like this happening as it’s understandable a driver is furious and unhappy when he has to retire because of someone else’s moves on the track. For sure it isn’t the first time when a driver has talked to another in this way. What might happen on the track in a questionable situation can be dangerous, while words are just words. You can’t injure anyone by using them.

The latest strange situation happened in Germany in the first race as the safety car came to the track on the first lap. Plenty of drivers were going to be under investigation by stewards after the race. Surely, it was going to be challenging as it was the first lap and there were many drivers who passed other cars.

In the end there were no penalties for anyone. Many drivers discussed this on Twitter later after being unhappy as no penalty was given despite drivers overtaking under the safety car.

Stewarding in GP2 should also teach for the drivers what’s allowed and what isn’t by punishing a driver for wrong moves on the track. This way the drivers should understand the limit. You can’t let these drivers make the move into Formula 1 if they think they can do anything on the track.

Looking at decisions the stewards have made, (or didn’t make at all) it looks like one day it’s completely fine to turn your car straight into your rival on purpose and on the other day you might get punished. On one day you can overtake cars while safety car is on the track, while on the other day you might get banned because you are angry on your rival because of his illegal movements, which is a normal act.

There needs to be a change in stewarding. Further it needs to be more consistent during the second part of the season. In GP2 it is especially important to punish drivers for illegal moves, and one can’t just let them be. Some of the drivers are mature enough to not to get into trouble, while some of the drivers need little reminders at times.

Still, being fair and consistent with penalties is something that this series needs. The FIA must realise there is something wrong when the drivers aren’t happy when the stewards don’t take necessary action. They are the stars of the series, the ones who want safety and fairness even though the fight on the track is hard.

Sometimes GP2 might look like a playground of kindergarten, but it actually should be a fair playground of a school where the drivers are preparing for the future, for maturity, and for taking the big step into their biggest dream.

It can be fair school only if the rules and punishments are clear for everybody. Let’s hope this changes in the future and the season continues with fair and consistent stewarding decisions, and will continue that way in coming years.

by Sini Salminen

I was given a €12,000 fine from stewards and narrowly escaped a race ban for calling Canamasas an f'ing idiot after the race. So pathetic

— Jolyon Palmer (@JolyonPalmer) June 30, 2013