Bourdais gets 25s penalty
Felipe Massa has gained a crucial extra point in his pursuit of Lewis Hamilton in the world championship after Sebastien Bourdais was handed a 25-second penalty for his collision with Massa.
The pair clashed as Bourdais exited the pits after his final stop on lap 52.
Bourdais falls from sixth to tenth in the standings, promoting Massa to seventh and Mark Webber to eighth.
Smitty said on 12th October 2008, 9:34
Oh, that’s just the last straw! Massa was at fault for that incident!
Andy said on 12th October 2008, 9:36
Insanity.
diseased rat said on 12th October 2008, 9:37
I wonder if Bourdais onboard camera shows that he made a slight mistake at turn 1 causing him to nudge Massa. From the view we saw during the race it looked like Massa was the one making a mistake. I am pretty stunned at this decision but need to see some alternate footage to be sure it’s wrong.
Paul F said on 12th October 2008, 9:43
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2u93VT7m2s
Massa / Bourdais incident…
Sumedh said on 12th October 2008, 9:45
Are stewards paid on a commission per penalty basis?
That would explain this spate of issuing penalties to any driver they can catch hold of?
George said on 12th October 2008, 9:50
There are some comments from Bourdais on autosport.com right now, which are, I think, spot on.
Keir said on 12th October 2008, 9:50
I have nothing to say, apart from to add my disgust at this nonsensical, and clearly very biased decision. I’ve had enough of this now.
Ollie said on 12th October 2008, 9:57
What an utterly bizarre decision. I do hope the stewards have some good information and will share as soon as possible. But from Bourdais quotes, it implies it was just as we saw it, which makes you wonder what planet the stewards are on right now.
sven duva said on 12th October 2008, 10:01
This is just incredible. First it takes 25 minut before Massas penalty was handed out, basically giving him 2-3 places for free while doing nothing for Hamilton since he was last anyway. Then this, handing him even more points. I’m just amazed that McLaren even have the motivation anymore to go on racing in F1.
Bob said on 12th October 2008, 10:01
This is ridiculous. This is worse than the Belgium fiasco, by quite some margin. What the hell are they playing at?
McLaren might as well just sit out the last two races and enjoy the Ferrari coronation as spectators.
More worrying, for F1 as a sport, this now means Massa needs to win the championship by seven points (this point, plus the six from Belgium) to avoid being seen as undeserving.
Why wasn’t Massa investigated for: 1) diving into the pitlane to overtake Webber; 2) causing Sutil’s accident in Singapore; and 3) gaining two places by overtaking with all four wheels off the track in Canada (a long time ago, but still). Not to mention Valencia!
There’s just too much of it to be “inconsistency” anymore…
David said on 12th October 2008, 10:02
ferrari international assistance
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 12th October 2008, 10:02
I’ve only seen the external camera angle of the Bourdais/Massa collision, I can’t say for sure whether Bourdais did anything wrong until I see an onboard from his car. But it doesn’t look as though he did anything wrong.
Navs said on 12th October 2008, 10:06
It is interesting that he sort of keeps moving left towards Massa after the collision. Is that an extension of the normal racing line, did he pick up a nudge on impact, or did he, maybe, twitch the wheel a little? It’ll be good to see the onboard.
Jonesracing82 said on 12th October 2008, 10:09
thats absolute ********!
Bourdais was on the inside as he had to be cos of the blend line and massa turned in on him!
conspiracy theorists have another meal on this one…
Alex Andronov said on 12th October 2008, 10:11
I can’t believe it! Really really odd