Mosley Seeks to Overhaul Driver Penalty System

Motor racing boss Max Mosley has proposed a radical overhaul of Formula One's driver penalty system in time for next season.

Mosley told Autosport magazine on Thursday that drive-through-the-pit penalties, such as the one at Indianapolis in September that cost Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya his title hopes, could be replaced by a licence points system.

Repeat offenders would be handed a race ban and stewards would no longer have to make quick decisions during races without all the facts at their disposal.

"This system would be much more satisfactory," said Mosley.

"Your first requirement is to be fair and what we have at the moment is bound to give the occasional odd result. Even if it is not unfair, people still think it is and that is just as bad," he added.

Williams driver Montoya, then second in the Championship, collided with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari at Indianapolis as the Colombian tried to pass.

He was given a drive-through penalty, which he took just as the rain started coming down hard. That forced him to make another pitstop to change tyres and he finished the penultimate race of the season out of title contention.

Both drivers viewed the collision as a racing incident and Ferrari later revealed that Barrichello had been wrestling with a gearbox problem. Autosport said Mosley had discussed his plans with teams at a Formula One commission meeting in October but several had expressed reservations.

Montoya was also sceptical, telling the magazine that licence points were not the way to go.

"We do want a different system but I don't think it should be by accumulating points or anything," he said. "We are racing out there and if you start accumulating points for things then no-one is going to risk anything and nobody is going to pass anybody."

But Mosley argued: "The big advantage is that if the driver disagrees (with a penalty), or the team disagrees, then there is the opportunity for both sides to be heard and even go to appeal.

"So far we have always succeeded in getting an appeal hearing before the next Grand Prix."