Adrian Sutil frustrated with 'joke' penalties in Formula 1
Adrian Sutil believes Formula 1's stewards must be more consistent with penalties and avoid 'joke' decisions like Pastor Maldonado's drive-through at Spa
Sutil earned a three-place grid penalty for blocking Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix qualifying, although the Briton later said the incident "doesn't matter anyway."
While Sutil accepted the penalty, he said he did so in the hope that it would set the bar and lead to more consistent decisions in the future.
"I think they just wanted to make an example now to say 'we are consistent in penalties'," he told AUTOSPORT.
"But I hope that for the next race, and all the other races there will be clear penalties for similar things.
"In Spa I had a situation where I had three cars in front of me that really impeded me and no penalty, not even an investigation. So, now it's me, I accept it no problem, if we are on the right way and the stewards are doing it every race.
"That's what the drivers all want. We don't understand sometimes - in one situation no penalty, in the same situation again you get a big penalty."
Sutil also derided the nature of some penalties, citing the example of Maldonado at Spa, when the Williams man was handed a drive-through for clashing with Paul di Resta at the Bus Stop chicane.
Di Resta was forced to retire while Maldonado earned a drive-through, an admonishment Sutil believes was pointless given his race hopes had already been extinguished.
"He was out of the race anyway after this incident and he gets, what, a drive-through? He deserved a grid position penalty.
"We all want to have a better sport with clear decisions, and if someone does something wrong, then yes OK they deserve a penalty.
"The problem is that sometimes there are drivers that are kind of stupid. They have no intelligence, and for them we need all the rules."
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