Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello have both been penalised following Saturday's qualifying session in Singapore.
The incident occurred in the first session of qualifying and the stewards decided that the German had blocked Barrichello and prevented him from completing his flying lap of the floodlit circuit.
Heidfeld has been demoted three places on the starting grid and now lines up ninth.
Heidfeld was entering the pits at the end of an in-lap when Barrichello caught up with him and was blocked on the apex of the final left-hander. The pit lane entry and exit have both received criticism because drivers enter and exit on the racing line. In my opinion, most of it isn't Heidfeld's fault.
I think the BMW Sauber team should have been on the radio to Heidfeld, telling him Barrichello was going to catch him and he should move off the racing line. This was certainly Heidfeld's intention, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The pit lane is my only criticism of Singapore so far. The effort put into building the circuit has been great, but simple things like positioning of the pit lane has to be done correctly.
Veteran Barrichello has been fined 10,000 euro for entering the pit lane incorrectly.
Revised starting grid:
1. Felipe Massa
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Robert Kubica
5. Heikki Kovalainen
6. Sebastian Vettel (Up 1 position)
7. Timo Glock (Up 1 position)
8. Nico Rosberg (Up 1 position)
9. Nick Heidfeld (Down 3 positions for impeding Barrichello)
10. Kazuki Nakajima
4 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
mark andrew 9 months ago
You see now what ive been thinking and really want to know is ...................................Why on earth does Heikki get a 5 place gri drop at Magny-cours , for this same action yet Heidfeld only getsd 3 places , Also when Hamilton and Kovalainen blockedHeidfeld in Malaysia the both got 5 too right ?
Is this Yet ANOTHER showing of FIA / Steward inconsistencies when handing down penalties to anything other than a Mclaren ? stick an extra 2 grid slots on coz its Mclaren ...........................it does my head in , yet the Tifosi are so blind to it , tossers they are .
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Billy Sexton 9 months ago
i thought that as well, lewis and heikki did exactly the same thing (according to stewards) in malaysia and get 5 places dropped and heidfeld gets 3. i really do not understand the stewards at all
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mark andrew 9 months ago
Ive added it to my pick and 5 stars because it brought to light yet another instance where another team is punished less severly than Mclaren for the same infringments ,
Another point i want to make is that Lewis is the only man to be punished this season for corner cutting , but he isnt the only offender of corner cutting ......why is this ? Ferrari International Assistance maybe ? The Jigsaw is being pieced together bit by bit and anyone who doesnt spot it are blind or a fan of the Red
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Billy Sexton 9 months ago
thanks mate.
it does seem that teams are punished less severly than mclaren and the corner cutting process is an interesting one, i must look into it.
also, kubica's little nudge on kovy yesterday, wasn't that a bit cheeky. i know it doesnt determine the drivers championship but kovy could have scored a point maybe for MM?
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