FIA to review rule that allowed banned F2 driver Raghunathan to race

The FIA will re-examine the penalty rule that delayed Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan’s ban, enabling him to contest the final race of the weekend at Paul Ricard.

MP Motorsport driver Raghunathan picked up nine penalty points for multiple Virtual Safety Car infringements during Saturday’s F2 feature race in France that took him to the 12 penalty point limit, which automatically results in a race ban.

But, due to the specific nature of the penalty – which states the ban will be effective from the “next event” - Raghunathan was allowed to take part in Sunday’s sprint race, before sitting out this weekend’s round in Austria.

FIA race director Michael Masi explained the complication had cropped up due to the rule being originally introduced for F1 events and confirmed it would be looked into.

“It’s something we had a long chat about,” said Masi.

“I don’t think it is necessarily a loophole is one, I think it is probably an unintended consequence when it is the penalty points regulations, from my understanding, obviously not having been around when they were designed, they were designed for a Formula 1 event, with one race, not two.

“The regulations are quite specific being effectively a mirror to an extent of each other, that it’s non-participation in the next event and the next event is Thursday to Sunday, the entire weekend.

“So, it’s one of those that we had a long chat about, but he’s allowed to participate today [Sunday]. It’s something that we’ll have a look at with the steering group and go from there, which is how those regulations are formed.”