Should F1 start punishing drivers for triggering flags in qualifying?

Torquing Point: Exclusive look at F1 Manager 2022 and a chat with Haas

Torquing Point: Red Bull dominate and Ferrari implode in Baku

Red Bull maximise Ferrari misfortune with 1-2

Ferrari woes continue with double DNF

Torquing Point: F1 Manager Game - Narratives Build and Heighten the Gameplay

Is it time for F1 to introduce a rule to punish drivers who bring out yellow or red flags and spoil another driver’s qualifying lap?

“He needs to get penalised, this guy (Alonso), he has to,” a furious Alex Albon ranted over team radio at the end of Q1 in Azerbaijan, having had his final flying lap spoiled by the Spaniard.

“This is ridiculous. He was doing it the whole lap. He was driving slowly on purpose and then it was so obvious how he went off the track – it was ridiculous. He braked so early and then he just went off the circuit.”

The British-Thai racer was right to be annoyed with the outcome, given Alonso’s off at Turn 15 happened in such a way that Albon could not do anything but back off as the Alpine cut across the corner.

Of course, Alonso denied any wrongdoing or intent, and no punishment was meted out by the stewards. It was, quite simply, a mistake from the Spaniard, and it was Albon who lost out on his final lap as a result.

But is that really a particularly fair way to go about qualifying these days? After all, it is absolutely not beyond the realms of possibility that a driver will purposely trigger a yellow flag specifically to ruin another driver’s attempt to better their time.

Think back to 2006 when Michael Schumacher parked his Ferrari at Rascasse in Monaco to spoil Alonso’s final run. Or Nico Rosberg’s ‘error’ at Mirabeau in 2014, resulting in him going straight up an escape road and ruining Lewis Hamilton’s