#i remember watching romain grosjean's accident and thinking that i was about to see another driver die

[keepthedelta]

i feel really deflated after seeing that doriane pin lost her win. i was so excited about women in motorsport and now it just feels like the people in power just want to punish talented women

listen, the fia are absolutely, 100%, no doubt whatsoever, clowns at their jobs.

but in this specific incident, i actually think they were right to penalise pin. i understand the frustration, because her doing an extra lap did not affect the race result, but ultimately, the penalty was for failing to follow basic safety regulations.

not to be morbid, but motorsport is actually a very dangerous sport, both for the drivers and for the officials. people do still die from participating in motorsport, and safety regulations, whilst rarely enjoyable, are very very important.

the stewards weren't penalising doriane for doing an extra lap, they were penalising her for being unaware first of the chequered flag, and then the many red flags that she was failing to slow for. should her team have been on the radio to tell her that it was over and she had won? yes. but should she have been aware of what was going on, seen the flags and responded to them appropriately? also yes.

in this instance it was the end of the race and she was only returning to the grid, but that's where the podium finishers park their cars. if she had still been going at full speed when she approached a grid where officials and other drivers were wandering about, it could have gone very badly. if the red flag had been thrown in the middle of the race and she had continued going at full speed until she arrived at the scene of an accident, potentially even where machinery was on track to move a car, it could have been very bad. and it's worth pointing out that teams don't always see everything from the pit wall, they sometimes have to rely on drivers giving them that information after the driver has seen a flag, so driver awareness is incredibly important.

it's very easy for people to sit and be annoyed by this decision because her actions didn't affect anyone, but safety rules are put in place to anticipate and mitigate the worst possibilities, and the only way they can ever be effective is if they are also applied for the smallest breaches. nothing bad happened this time, but it could have, and even if it didn't, doriane could have ended up disqualifying herself by using more fuel than is permitted. it seems harsh, and there is an argument that she should have been given a grid penalty for the next race rather than a time penalty for this one, but i don't believe that her getting a penalty is unfair.

does it suck that she lost her win? sure. i really like doriane, she's been fantastic in endurance racing and i love the iron dames, so i'm definitely rooting for her to do well in single seaters. but i think safety is more important and i always will. she'll take this hit, learn from it, and come back fighting. please don't let yourself lose any excitement about women in motorsport because of one stewarding decision. i promise you, there is so much talent and potential in the world for female drivers.

if you're interested in the stewarding standards i recommend dropping into @mercedeshaterr's inbox as she has actual experience and can speak about stewarding with far more insight and authority than i can, and is a passionate supporter of women in motorsport