F1: FIA To Widen Grid Boxes From Australian GP Following Alonso & Ocon Penalties

With the new chassis and aero regulations kicking in in 2022, the view out of the cockpit to align the car perfectly in the grid box for the start of a Grand Prix was considerably hampered, making it harder for the drivers to park their cars. Following some penalties last year, FIA had decided on increasing the width of the grid boxes from 2.3 m to 2.5 m for the 2023 season. However the same was still not enough as proven by Esteban Ocon at the Bahrain GP and Fernando Alonso at the Saudi Arabian GP, as both of them misaligned their cars for the start of the race.

Both the drivers received 5 second time penalties for the same, which many considered to be too harsh, including some drivers on the grid. Director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) George Russel spoke in support of the pair, saying “I understand why these rules are there, we've got to stick within the guidelines, [but] a little bit of common sense needs to be shown,” “Ultimately I think he [Alonso] was a bit to the left,” “He gained nothing from this, perhaps a five-second [penalty] is too much.”

“Maybe [it’s the] cars, or the Halo, whatever it is interacting with the vision of how we position the car. But anyway, that was my mistake”, Alonso added. This has been taken into account by the FIA promptly, as it has elected to widen the grid boxes by a further 20 cm to 2.7 m from the Australian GP this weekend. Hopefully, the change will be enough to leave the drivers to race on the track against each other, rather than racing against penalties.