Why doesn't motor racing have them?
A defender punches the ball off the line in a football match. He gets sent off and suspended.
A rugby player spikes an opponent. Six week ban.
A driver punts another driver off. He might get a 10 second penalty.
Where is the deterrent? Where is the remedy?
I've just watched the Silverstone GP2 race. The highlight was Jordan King's defence of third, then fourth, then fifth place, on worn tyres. His driving was impeccable. Villeneuve at Jerez. Gasly had to work really hard to get around him; Lynn screwed his courage to the sticking post and followed.
And then there's Arthur Pic.
Pic couldn't get around. So, at the final corner, he decided to dropkick King into retirement.
The problem is that King doesn't even get a finish through no fault of his own. Pic, right now, has that fifth place, and a reverse grid fourth, whereas King will start from the back.
I expect Pic to be excluded from these results. But he won't get a race ban. Because nobody ever really does. Maldonado has been an unguided missile for much of his career and has hardly ever been banned. Canamassas makes Maldonado look like Herman Beam yet he still has a licence. And don't get me started on Lance Stroll.
The problem is that driver penalties are not really penalties, and drivers never get sanctioned for bad behaviour. And the result is that such behaviour is repeated. Senna and Michael Schumacher were repeat offenders and were never punished properly. So that now junior drivers think this is an acceptable way to behave.
One solution is simple. Anyone who causes another driver to retire from a race is excluded both from that race and from the next two. Penalty and deterrent. And perhaps sponsors might think twice at backing someone who keeps missing races because he has the brain of slime mould.
There's little that can be done regarding King, but an imaginative ruling body could do something about that; indeed in this instance all they need do is give King Pic's finishing position. And perhaps they could deduct points from championships as well. Stop drivers Adelaiding their way to undeserved titles. The DTM did the same sort of thing to get the right man the title after a bit of Alzen aggro.
And, what's more, it opens up F1 for more drivers. For a start Mercedes would have had to give Rosberg's drive to someone after Spa last year. Who might have parlayed that drive into something more.
So why are the penalties so meagre? Cui bono?