There are reports that the FIA and the teams are discussing a new way of penalising drivers in 2014 and beyond, when the cars will be powered by 1.6 litre V6 turbo-charged engines.
At present, penalties for minor incidents range from drive-through penalties to post-race time additions – the equivalent of a drive-through but applied once the race has finished.
It’s believed the FIA and the teams have discussed the idea of reducing the power produced by the turbo charger for a set amount of time as an additional penalty for a minor infringement.
With the new power units for 2014, race control has the ability to monitor the turbo-boost, and it would only require a small change to the electronic control unit (ECU) software to allow them to regulate it too.
This would give them the ability to slightly reduce a cars power for a certain amount of time, for example 10 laps, to penalise a driver for causing an incident. The driver would still be in the race and able to defend his position, but he would be at a slight disadvantage to those around him.
The idea is just a proposal at present and nothing has been agreed with regards to new penalties.
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