Romain Grosjean has questioned the need for Formula 1 to have a penalty points system for drivers as he faces a nervy weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Following a number of incidents over the last 12 months, the Frenchman is just two points on his superlicence away from triggering an automatic race ban with the 10th added after his Lap 1 collision with Charles Leclerc last Sunday in Austin.
While his Haas team boss Guenther Steiner brushed off the prospect of needing a replacement for Brazil in two weeks, just the threat is enough to frustrate Grosjean.
“Yes, I’m in a s**t situation,” he was quoted by PlanetF1 on Friday. “I have two points left.
“OK, I get one back after the race and two back after Brazil so then it will be a bit nicer, but sometimes you take a penalty point and you don’t know why.”
Ironically, Grosjean is the last driver to have been banned for a race after causing the massive crash at the start of the 2012 Belgian GP which led to the creation of the penalty points system in place today.
Romain, however, doesn’t see it as necessary.
“The points system, do we need it in F1, with supposedly the best drivers in the world? I don’t know. Put it in NASCAR and guys will be banned three times a year,” he said.
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Regardless, the final question was how he would approach the race weekend in Mexico.
“I will try to be as good as I can,” he stated. “In Austin, I didn’t want to be aggressive, and I lifted off out of the fight, and then I got caught in dirty air.
“I trust my stars will be aligned and everything is going to go well.”