F1 drivers still in dark over visor tear-off ban penalties

F1 drivers are still unsure what penalty they will receive if they do not adhere to a new visor tear-off ban imposed by the FIA.

Coming into effect from this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, drivers will not be allowed to discard visor tear-offs on to the circuit in an attempt to stop them becoming lodged in brake ducts and causing brakes to overheat. With no set solution to where the tear-offs must go, Fernando Alonso says McLaren will test ideas during practice on Thursday.

"I think it's not a problem," Alonso said. "Let's say it's a strange rule because we never had this kind of rule but it's also not a problem to keep the tear-offs inside the cockpit so it's OK.

"We have different solutions that we will find tomorrow. We keep trying. We try a couple and tomorrow we will find a place. Some of these places I cannot tell you now because it's 18+!

"I think we will have to do it in the pit lane to be honest. When we do the pit stops it's ten seconds when we are 60kph, it's the perfect opportunity to do all these things."

Asked what the penalty for discarding a tear-off on the track is, Alonso replied: "It's still not decided yet.

"We are still asking the FIA what the penalty will be and there is still some debate about that."

McLaren team-mate Jenson Button admits the drivers are not fans of the ban but is sure it will quickly become normal.

"We have to not throw them out of the cars, so it is a case of finding a way of putting them somewhere else," Button said. "There are many different ideas that many have come up with, we stick them in the cockpit in different places.

"It is not the easiest thing to do, especially if you have been taking off tear offs for 20 years of your life, suddenly you can’t. Even when you know you have to stick them in the car, your hand is in the air and you are trying to put it back into the cockpit. It is tricky the first race being Monaco that you have to put it in the car

"[We must] come up with our own solution. None of us really like it, it’s like a HANS device, no driver liked it, it wasn’t comfortable but after one race you forget and deal with it."

And Button understands why the regulation has been brought in but feels teams were already safely dealing with any knock-on impact of visor tear-offs causing brake failures.

"Two ways of looking at it. It is silly in one way but also Fernando has had two failures the last couple of years with tear-offs going in the brake duct. One was his own, he took it off and it went in the brake duct and one was from someone else. It happens and you end up with failures, but it is not a safety issue because we see it as a team because the brakes get hot, but it means you have to retire."

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