Lowe: "Robust" Penalties are Necessary

The Williams man said he believes that the penalty system currently in F1 is a necessary evil.

Paddy Lowe has said he supports the penalties that are currently used in Formula One. The Williams technical chief discussed his support for the penalty that Daniel Ricciardo was handed last weekend in Melbourne despite many criticising the decision.

Ricciardo was given a three-place grid penalty at his home grand prix after failing to slow sufficiently under a red flag in practice one. The Aussie was less than happy with the stewards decision, describing the penalty as "shithouse".

While Lowe sympathised with Ricciardo, he maintained that the penalty was necessary despite the fact it harmed the local hero's chances of winning his home race.

I feel sorry for Ricciardo for that particular incident because it did seem quite harsh when it’s his home race," Lowe said.

"We always come out with these things, but in reality, one of the themes of stewarding is they are often criticised for being inconsistent, and I think when it comes to issues of safety, I actually do support the stewards for being fairly robust with penalties.

"You can’t make those sorts of allowances because the minute you say ‘it’s the first race and it was a new rule and nobody was ready for it so we will let you off’. It means you have to let off the next guy as well. You’d just be digging a hole that you can’t climb out of.

"At the end of the day, it’s a matter of safety and if it was in the race, we know how it would work in the race.

"You would manage it very diligently so that you didn’t get a penalty. That’s the job to do."