'Stewards contradicted Whiting's advice over Seb'

Monday 13th October 2008

It has emerged that in penalising Sebastien Bourdais for the collision with Felipe Massa that occurred as the Toro Rosso driver left the pits during the Japanese GP, the stewards directly contradicted the advice given to the drivers by Race Director Charlie Whiting.

The retrospective 25-second punishment meted out against the Frenchman cuased outrage, especially as it had been thought that the post-race investigation would focus on Massa's role in the accident. Instead, the stewards opted to punish Bourdais, thereby promoting the Ferrari driver to seventh place and further reducing his deficit to Lewis Hamilton in the World Championship.

Replays of the incident show Bourdais tucked in to the right-hand side of the track as he left the pits. With his wheels on the edge of the track, Bourdais was then struck by Massa's Ferrari as the Brazilian sought to overtake.

Branding the decision to punish Bourdais as 'ridiculous', ITV's James Allen revealed in his post-race commentary that 'the team managers I spoke to after the race all said that FIA race director Charlie Whiting had briefed them in Singapore and again in Fuji that the car exiting the pits has right of way.'

If so, it would be the second occasion in four races that the stewards have ignored the advice given to the teams by Whiting after the Race Director assured McLaren that Lewis Hamilton's move past Kimi Raikkonen in Belgium was "ok". As with Bourdais, the stewards then imposed a retrospective drive-through penalty.

'If the teams cannot believe the race director, what hope have the rest of us and the wider public got?' asks Allen. 'The FIA styles itself as the referee in this sport, but surely it cannot afford to keep sending out such mixed messages.'

The stewards have yet to offer any sort of explanation for their ruling, or why it was issued after the race. The collision occurred on lap 51, with another 16 still to run. As Allen notes, that meant they had 20 minutes to judge the incident and announce their findings before the end of the race, something which should have been achievable given it took them just 15 laps to rule on both of the penalties issued against Hamilton and Massa at the start of the race.

Related Stories:
Bourdais Bewildered By Stewards Ruling

Your Comments

dane

"If the FIA were biased againt Mclaren, why was Hamilton penalised @ Monza? Re Webber & Glock? Pretty much cancels out any conspiracy theories & just goes back to Poms being whingers"

kidmagney

"I have been following F1 for the last 23 years and have been a McLaren fan for that long. The last few years I have seen the sport going to the dogs becoz of the way Ferrari gets favoured. These days McLaren is gurenteed of a penalty if they are investigated for anything. I think that the FIA is being run by Ferrari and the stewards might as well get Ferrari jump-suits. Imagine how bad it will become for McLaren and other teams if Jean Todd decides to join the FIA next year. My favourite sport is being ruined by impartiality..."

dezbo1960

"what a load of bum fluff, charlie has been and always will be mr F1, he has always acted fair and square and he is highly respected by many a team and fan alike, sadly he isn't on the payrole at ferrari or gets the back handers handed out to the FIA by the said mentioned team, i think it's time a select commitee made up from all teams at all grand prixs is formed so such pathetic and costly mistakes are punished correctly and not in favor of the prancing horse, long live charlie..go get em dawg"

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