Sebastien Bourdais gets grid penalty
Sebastien Bourdais will start 19th for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix
Sebastien Bourdais will be moved back five places on the grid for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Toro Rosso driver was deemed to have impeded BMW’s Nick Heidfeld during the first part of qualifying. It prevented Heidfeld from being able to reach the second part of qualifying and left him 16th.
The feeling on the live blog during qualifiyng was that Bourdais shouldn’t get a penalty, but the stewards disagreed. Here’s a look at the revised grid:
2008 Hungarian Grand Prix – provisional grid
1. Lewis Hamilton 1′20.899
2. Heikki Kovalainen 1′21.140
3. Felipe Massa 1′21.181
4. Robert Kubica 1′21.281
5. Timo Glock 1′21.326
6. Kimi Raikkonen 1′21.516
7. Fernando Alonso 1′21.698
8. Mark Webber 1.21.732
9. Jarno Trulli 1.21.767
10. Nelson Piquet Jnr 1′22.371
11. Sebastian Vettel 1.20.144
12. Jenson Button 1′20.332
13. David Coulthard 1′20.502
14. Nico Rosberg no time
15. Nick Heidfeld 1′21.045
16. Kazuki Nakajima 1′21.085
17. Rubens Barrichello 1′21.332
18. Giancarlo Fisichella 1′21.670
19. Sebastien Bourdais 1′20.963*
20. Adrian Sutil 1′22.113
*Five place-penalty
Dorian said on 3rd August 2008, 10:09
Agreed L. Snowcat, but the point is that there was nothing Seb could have done to avoid wrecking Nick’s lap. He shouldn’t get punished for being in the wrong place at the wrong time
diseased_rat said on 3rd August 2008, 10:20
Actually I think there is plenty Seb could have done to avoid wrecking Nicks lap. If he was creating a gap with those in front of him he should have been out wide on the corner. Of course he didn’t want to be out wide because that risked someone like Nick passing him then being in the way of Sebs fast lap.
He took a risk to stay on the racing line while going slower and relied on his ability to react to anyone coming up fast behind him. He failed to react to Heidfeld and thus the penalty is justified, if a little harsh.
Sush said on 3rd August 2008, 10:29
I think salty is right, I hear Seb say Giancarlo was in his way, which in turn made him slow down…
diseased rat said on 3rd August 2008, 10:32
He quite plainly stated he was trying to open a gap with those in front of him when interviewed by ITV.
motion said on 3rd August 2008, 11:33
RB4 rear & peripheral is also worse than RB3, look at Coulthard’s incidents