Charlie Whiting has admitted that the penalty handed to Sebastian Vettel after the German Grand Prix was harsh.
Vettel was slapped with a post-race drive-through penalty after race stewards decided that the German driver had gained an unfair advantage when he passed Jenson Button off the track. The penalty meant that 20 seconds was added to his race time, demoting him from second position down to fifth.
“It was disproportionate to the offense,” said David Coulthard, who according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said that sort of move happens regularly in DTM.
Whiting does not disagree.
“The punishment is very hard,” he admitted when asked about Vettel’s demotion. “Unfortunately at the moment we have nothing else to choose from.”
It is believed the FIA is looking into introducing a raft of new penalties, including a mechanism that could delay a driver for as little as five seconds in total.
“Work is still ongoing as per the technicalities,” Auto Motor und Sport said.
Source:GMM
