Ericsson handed pit lane start for Massa collision

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

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Marcus Ericsson has been ordered to start tomorrow’s race from the pit lane after colliding with Felipe Massa during qualifying.

The Caterham driver was judged to have “recklessly collided” with Massa at Mirabeau during Q1. Massa was attempting to let Ericsson pass at the time, and was unable to participate in Q2 after the incident.

In addition to requiring Ericsson to start the race from the pit lane, the stewards also handed the Caterham driver his first two penalty points of the season.

“On my final push lap I was behind Massa going into turn five and he moved offline a bit which meant I had to change my braking point,” Ericsson explained. “I locked up and went into the barrier with him which was my mistake.”

“It’s unfortunate it took him out too but it looks like the car is ok so now I want to put today behind me and concentrate on the race.”

The stewards also gave Daniil Kvyat a reprimand for impeding Pastor Maldonado during qualifying.

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Image © Caterham/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “Ericsson handed pit lane start for Massa collision”

  1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    24th May 2014, 16:22

    Fair enough, he’s ruined Massa’s race.

    1. Ruined his entire weekend. I feel very sorry for Massa – he always seems to get rotten luck.

  2. That was one of the funniest crashes I saw in a long time. I actually cracked up, it was quite unexpected.

    1. Frankly Massa was in his way in the worst place possible, in the braking zone, and it did not look a surprising crash to me at all.
      And Ericsson’s comment does match up to what I thought when I saw it, so I’am not in agreement with the stewards.

      I wonder how this incident would be viewed if it was the other way around.

      1. My thoughts exactly. Massa chose the wrong place to give room. There is a reason why drivers drift to the left before attempting a right turn there, it is very tight. Plus having to change direction before braking.
        Stupid stewards, not a very sensible Massa. A clear case racing accident

  3. That could actually be a blessing for Ericsson if there’s a pile-up at turn 1

    1. My thoughts also.

    2. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      24th May 2014, 16:51

      True, especially if what the BBC are reporting is anything to go by:
      BBC Radio 5 live pit lane reporter Jennie Gow asks Lewis Hamilton: “Are you even more like Senna and Prost now? Hamilton replies: “Essentially.”
      Will you have to sit down and sort it out? Hamilton says: “I don’t know if Senna and Prost sat down and talked it out. I quite like the way Senna dealt with it, so I’m going to take a page out of his book.”

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        24th May 2014, 17:22

        @collettdumbletonhall for anyone who thinks races can still be solved “by Senna’s rules” at Suzuka, remember now (after his death) safety is taken very seriously, so I guess that if Hamilton tries to provoke a crash, he is risking his superlicense there.

        1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
          24th May 2014, 18:11

          @omarr-pepper
          Yep, I don’t think he’ll follow through on it but it would be fascinating if he did. I think he just likes talking about Senna, he never shuts up about him

        2. I would say that he should indeed get benched for a race or 2 if he did anything deliberate like Senna did at the time @omarr-pepper, @collettdumbletonhall

          As for the talking on Senna, its a sort of a fetish for Hamilton, yeah.

    3. Ericsson wins..

  4. Massa hasn’t gotten a break the whole season has he? Something bad/strange/race-ending always happens to him that usually isn’t even his fault. Guy must have broken a lot of mirrors back in 2008.

    1. @reiter So 2016 will be his year?

      1. @hunocsi not if 2015 is the year he is out the door. In other words if this year is his final year as the rumor mill seems to think

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          24th May 2014, 17:24

          Who would replace Massa the best in your opinion @magillagorilla ?
          I’d give Kvyat a chance (as long as Williams stays strong)

          1. @omarr-pepper I don’t really know I guess Vergne or Kvyat either STR driver would be good, for different reasons.

          2. Nasr. He has Petrobras backing as well, is the third driver, has been driving that car on Fridays, and is having a decent season in GP2

        2. He does have a contract with Williams for next year, as far as I know. It is probable he would complete that.

      2. He’ll be having grandchildren in his lap by then, telling stories about the great old days.

    2. Indeed; taken out by Kobayashi, a botched pitstop and now this… Barcelona was a disaster but he’s a match for Bottas and the points don’t reflect that.

  5. Shame that he gets the same amount of points for this that one gets for holding somebody up!

    1. *than. I know I complain about this a lot but it just seems stupid. Holding up is annoying but it isn’t a deadly serious offense. I hope nobody gets any for that here in Monaco (unless it is for half a lap or something really extreme) – it’s really difficult not to.

  6. A fair penalty I think, it was a bit careless from Ericsson but obviously not malicious. It’s understandable that Massa slowing there might have caught him off guard.

  7. 1. Massa creates his own headaches he never should have left the door open.
    2. Penalties like this are utterly meaningless to this utterly meaningless backmarker.

    1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      24th May 2014, 21:41

      To counter your point #1, if he didn’t try to get out of the way, he (Massa) would’ve gotten a penalty for impeding…

  8. Interesting. Ericsson lost the car in pretty much the same way that Rosberg did a bit later. Both missed their braking point by a fraction and arrived at the corner with insufficient grip to make the turn. The only difference was that Ericsson couldn’t take to the run off as Massa was in the way…

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