F1 must prevent cars from being used as "weapons"

Hamilton and Verstappen moments before the collision — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

F1 must prevent cars from being used as "weapons"

The sport is punishing collisions to promote clean racing

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 28 July 2021 17:02

Former F1 champion Damon Hill has insisted F1 must prevent drivers from using their cars as "weapons".

The FIA, race director Michael Masi and race stewards have come under fire in recent races for the dishing out of penalties for incidents - either too lenient or too severe - with the biggest talking point coming from the decision to hand Lewis Hamilton a 10-second penalty at the British Grand Prix.

The sport was divided on the collision between the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen, with Red Bull insisting the punishment should have been harsher, whilst others claimed it was simply a racing incident and that Hamilton should not have been penalised.

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Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hill suggested there was a reason penalties such as those given in Austria and to Hamilton and George Russell at Silverstone were being handed out.

"What appears to me that Michael Masi has been trying to achieve - and I don't know this because I haven't spoken to him and gotten a definite answer - but it seems to me that he is throwing out penalties when cars collide and when accidents happen because there must be someone to blame in a situation," said Hill.

"The goal of the sport ultimately is to get cars to race without colliding.

"Sometimes, it is unavoidable, they take risks and these things happen but what you can't have is a sport where you use your car as a weapon to prevent the other person from overtaking you because where is the limit to that?"

Senna-Prost incident "not a sport"

The clash between Hamilton and Verstappen has inevitably drawn parallels with the infamous Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna incident at the start of the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.

Senna was unhappy with pole position starting on the dirty side of the track at Suzuka and, when trailing rival Prost a the first apex, collided with the Ferrari driver to clinch the championship.

"We had the extreme situation in Suzuka in 1990 with Senna and Prost that was clearly a malicious move. Senna had no intention of making the corner, he just wanted to hit Alain Prost and become world champion," described Hill.

"That's not a sport, is it? That is basically a foul that resulted in a victory.

"There has to be a point where somebody is trying to apply fairness so running into people has to be stopped."