Final weekend in Qatar marked the second spherical in a row the place the FIA required a driver to begin from the pitlane after mechanics surpassed how far a automobile might be constructed with out inspection.
Sergio Perez was eradicated within the Losail dash race as a part of a three-car pile-up involving Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, all of whom escaped with out blame from the stewards.
However the crashed RB19 was deemed to be past restore, so Pink Bull was compelled to make up a substitute chassis, however the construct exceeded the regulated survival cell stage (cockpit and gasoline tank) with out being supervised by the governing physique.
As well as, the work continued past the two-hour restrict after the dash race, by which period the FIA requires all vehicles to be coated and prepared for seals to be utilized.
For this, Perez – as per Williams driver Logan Sargeant in Japan – was required to start from the pitlane. However Horner reckons F1 wants to plot “a extra smart” resolution.
He mentioned: “I feel it is one thing that workforce managers want to have a look at, one thing a bit extra smart, as a result of now for 2 weeks with Williams and ourselves, it has been removed from excellent.”
Horner added that there was “no likelihood” Pink Bull may have constructed up this third workforce automobile but nonetheless have complied with the sporting laws.
Christian Horner, Group Principal, Pink Bull Racing, within the workforce principals Press Convention
Picture by: FIA Pool
He continued: “No likelihood. With the harm to the crash construction and so forth, that will have been unimaginable… They did an outstanding job to show it throughout.”
Such was the extent of the rebuild job that the crew devoted to team-mate Max Verstappen’s automobile stayed late on a day the place their driver was topped a three-time world champion to assist with the Perez repairs.
Not like Perez, Sargeant was additionally tagged with a 10-second penalty previous to the Japanese GP.
Williams modified the specification of the components fitted to his automobile in comparison with what was put in in Q1 on the time of his shunt.
This meant he already certified for a pitlane begin, so the stewards moved to individually punish the workforce for breaches of the survival cell and two-hour guidelines.