Planet-F1

Bourdais penalised for Massa incident

Sunday 12th October 2008

In a shock decision Sebastien Bourdais, not Felipe Massa, has been slapped with a 25-second penalty by the Japanese stewards for Sunday's incident.

On lap 50 of the Japanese GP, Bourdais and Massa connected as the Toro Rosso driver came out of the pit lane and onto the racing line.

The nudge put Massa in a spin, costing him vital seconds in his race for a points-paying position at the Fuji Speedway.

Massa, though, was able to recover and continued on to finish the race in eighth place while Bourdais sealed a solid P6 for himself and his team.

However, the incident was investigated post-race by the stewards, who deemed Bourdais to have been in the wrong, slapping the Frenchman with a 25-second penalty.

The controversial decision drops Bourdais out of the points, while handing Massa another much-need point in his title quest.