I am definitely for harsh penalties for this type of things, but in the sporting context. I have never talked about hanging people here. And rally organisers in WRC have taken action against these kinds of incidents all the way from the 1970s to 2000s, for much lesser infringements as well. Those instances have just usually necessitated a police involvement at first so there hasn't been any kind of consistency whatsoever, when it comes to giving penalties for this type of antics. Stig Blomqvist was disqualified from the 1975 1000 Lakes for speeding on a road section. Hannu Mikkola was given a five minute penalty in 1979 Monte Carlo for doing an illegal overtake, which he denies having done to this day. Retrospectively looking, that penalty ended up costing Mikkola the 1979 World Championship, the first Drivers' World Championship in history. Also Tommi Mäkinen was given a five minute penalty in 2003 New Zealand for speeding 50kph over the speed limit in an urban area. Colin McRae did have to go to the FIA court in Paris in 1996 for driving recklessly in service area in Argentina.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zico
Let's take an F1 example. Please note this example refers to consequences caused by lack of action, in no way I am comparing this incident or the severity of it to Tänak's case. I am a great fan of Ayrton Senna, but that doesn't change my opinion that after what he did in 1990 Suzuka (deliberately ram into Alain Prost in high speed, in order to win the World Championship), the correct action would have been to strip Senna of his 1990 World Championship and he should have been banned for the whole of the 1991 seson as well. But no action was taken, none. Amazingly, some of the motorsport press actually heralded Senna and blamed Prost for disrespecting the sport for daring to whine about Senna. And what happened a few years later, a certain fella named Michael Schumacher brandished similar driving code in World Championship deciders (even if the Schumacher incidents weren't nearly as serious as Senna's in 1990). But if Senna had been strongly punished for 1990, I don't think Schumacher would have tried to pull his tricks later.
In Tänak's case I would just disqualify him for Monte and ban him for a couple of rallies. It would be a very harsh penalty given the history of extremely inconsistent dealings with this type of incidents and sure it would send shockwaves. But it could be the beginning of more consistent and clearer penalties for road section silliness that would keep drivers better in line in the future and when looking back, it could be seen as a very important decision for the sport.
