Following his and Charles Leclerc’s disqualification from the most recent United States Grand Prix, Christian Horner has questioned the parc ferme regulations and expressed sympathy to Lewis Hamilton.
Following Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the US Grand Prix, Christian Horner, the team principal for Red Bull, has questioned the parc ferme regulations for sprint weekends in Formula 1.
Charles Leclerc and the seven-time world champion were both disqualified in Austin last month when post-race inspections revealed that their skid blocks had excessive wear.
It was expected that Hamilton, who placed second in the race, would respond to the developments with a rather direct assessment of the ruling. “It is disappointing to be disqualified after the race, of course, but it doesn’t take away from the progress we’ve made this weekend,” the speaker stated.
“Set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package,” stated Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, quickly owning up to the error.
“In the end, none of that matters because the rules are rigid and others made the correct decisions where we made mistakes. We must accept it, apply the lessons, and bounce back stronger the following weekend.”
Although Horner has effectively thrown his weight behind Hamilton by speaking out against the current rules, which he feels should be simplified moving forward, Wolff was happy to accept responsibility.
When asked about parc ferme on sprint weekends, Horner responded, “Keep it simple,” in an interview with Sky Sports during the weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. After one session, locking a car doesn’t really work for me, parc ferme.”
He then tore into current format for sprint weekends in general, adding: “Why not take the championship order and reverse the top ten for a shootout? But then it’s got to mean something.
“It’s got to have sufficient points to it because you could tell at the end of that race, we’re not quite sure whether we congratulate each other or not. I think it’s got to have more meaning to it.
“You’ve got to create more to it. It’s got to be more of an event in itself rather than an extended long run with a medal at the end. It needs a think over the winter because I think there’s real merit to doing something, but I don’t think we’ve got it quite right at the moment.”
Leave a Reply