THE redress is an option that remains in a driver’s power to avoid formal punishment, Supercars’ referee Craig Baird has affirmed.
The act of redressing (i.e. a driver taking it into their own hands to undo a foul they have committed, by rectifying track position) controversially went pear-shaped at the 2016 Bathurst 1000 when Jamie Whincup, Scott McLaughlin and Garth Tander spectacularly collided.
Swapping positions is not a directive Motorsport Australia’s stewards can enforce – they are generally bound by a framework of five, 15 or 30-second penalties – but it’s a self-imposed measure that can prevent further action being taken.
Baird clarified as much in the most recent edition of V8 Sleuth’s Race Control podcast, when touching on the five-second penalty issued to Cam Waters for a bump-and-run on Anton De Pasquale during Race 1 of the Darwin Triple Crown.
“I was really surprised with the Cam Waters one on Anton,” said Baird, the championship’s long-running Driving Standards Advisor.
“Not that it happened, because you can run into the back of a car, it happens, there’s no doubting that, but if we go back to Perth two years ago, he lost the race because he didn’t redress with Will Davo (Davison).
“So they know it’s in their toolbox, we discussed it with them back in Perth.
“I actually waited, I said to the stewards, ‘just hold off, he’ll redress this’. I actually said on our channel to the Supercars guys in pitlane… ‘I’m just holding off, I’m sure someone in the Tickford garage will just get Cam to redress it’.
“And he would have marched on, he was on a different tyre strategy at the time and he had a lot more speed. But he chose not to.
“So I can’t then go to DJR and say ‘the request for investigation on the bump-and-run, I’m not doing anything about it’ because that means I’m not doing my job.
“So once they put that request in, I have to say, ‘is there a breach of a rule or not?’ and make a recommendation to the stewards.
“Well, it was very clear there was a breach, so I gave him three laps (to redress) and then had to issue the penalty.”
