Le Seb's F1 career with Toro Rosso came to an end ...

So, it is official now. Sebastien Bourdais’ F1 career with Scuderia Toro Rosso is over. The team has decided to bring new driver for Hungarian GP. Franz Tost:

“In Sébastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the World Championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix.”

And so Sébastien Bourdais becomes the first driver since Scott Speed in 2007 to be dropped by the team during the season (if we do not count Alex Wurz who dropped himself and retired the same year with a race to go). He also joins the privileged company of Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and others – the drivers whos F1 seasons or careers ended in July …

No replacement has been confirmed yet although it is widely expected that Spanish youngster Jaime Alguersuari will get the seat and become the youngest ever F1 race driver.

Photo: Red Bull Media

Sebastien Bourdais dropped by Toro Rosso

Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4

Scuderia Toro Rosso revealed today their 2009 challeneger – STR4. The car was built (same as Red Bull’s RB5) by Red Bull Technology. And while Toro Rosso’s technical director Giorgio Ascanelli insists the new STR4 is not a rebadged Red Bull Racing RB5 it would be quite difficult to spot too many differences other than those directly related to different engine and then of course the livery. If you spot any, please list them out in the comments ! The STR4 should be the last Toro Rosso car built by Red Bull. From 2010 Toro Rosso should built their own car to comply with the regulations that do not allow teams running customer cars.

The size of the bull image has been reduced and it now even looks like a bull rather than spilled can of red paint. Perhaps this revised livery is to show potential sponsors that if needed the team can make some space for sponsor logos. At the moment however the dominant logo is of course that of the owners, Red Bull, making the STR4 livery look much more similar to Red Bull racing car than it used to. Will be a bit more difficult to tell the cars apart this season … I wonder what will RedBullog have to say about that .

Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais taking wraps off STR4

Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4 - Profile

Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4 - head on

Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais with STR4

Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais with their helmets and STR4

STR4 technical specifications:

Official car name: STR4
Engine: Ferrari V8 Type 056
Chassis material: Composite monocoque structure
Bodywork material: Carbon fibre composite
Front Suspension: Upper and lower carbon wishbones, torsion bar springs and anti roll bars, Sachs dampers
Rear Suspension: Upper and lower carbon wishbones, torsion bar springs and anti roll bars, Sachs dampers Steering: Scuderia Toro Rosso Gearbox: Seven-speed hydraulic
Clutch: Sachs Triple-plate pull-type
KERS: Ferrari design in conjunction with Magneti- Marelli
Calipers: Brembo
Pads and discs: Brembo
Cooling system (radiators, heat exchangers): Scuderia Toro Rosso
Cockpit instrumentation: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Seat belts: Willans
Steering wheel: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Driver’s seat: Carbon fibre construction, moulded to driver’s shape
Extinguisher system: Scuderia Toro Rosso/FEV
Wheels: Advanti Racing Fuel cell: ATL
Overall Weight: >605 kg (including driver and camera)

2009 Helmet Sebastien Bourdais

2009 Helmet Sebastien Buemi

Photos and images: Red Bull Media

2009 Formula 1 cars – Toro Rosso reveals STR4 – Spot the difference

Sebastien Buemi will become the 5th Toro Rosso race driver since the team appeared on the grid in 2006. It will be interesting to watch what direction his Toro Rosso (and F1) carreer will take. People say that when there is a chance to race in F1 one has to grab as it may never ever come again. But grabbing the chance in wrong time in such an unforgiving team as Toro Rosso is may result in very short F1 career …

Vitantonio Liuzzi came to Red Bull as F3000 champion, Scott Speed after finishing 3rd in GP2, Sebastien Bourdais as F3000 champion and 4 times Champ Car champion. Still, they all had tough time with Toro Rosso…

Speed was almost dropped after his first season. He survived only to be dropped after 2007 European GP following his spin and some tense pitlane moments with Franz Tost. Vitantonio Liuzzi (despite being match for Vettel) lasted only half a season longer and had to make way for new guys – Speed’s replacement Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais “rookie” year did not go well too (especially since the moment the STR-3 arrived) and there were serious doubts about his F1 future. The team again took their time and confirmed him for second season only about 2 weeks ago. I think it is safe to say he would not be there for second season if there was another driver with more money in the pocket…

Buemi is arriving in F1 following his 7th place in 2008 GP2 championship. He won two sprint races but hasn’t realy shined in the series. His best championship result to date is 2nd place in 2007 Formula Three Euroseries.

But, previous results in other categories may not mean that much. Sebastian Vettel hasn’t exactly won too many championships either (actually only one, German Formula BMW in 2004 if my information is correct) and yet he delivered first F1 win for Toro Rosso and many believe he is future F1 champion…

To see ad hear what Sebastien Buemi thinksclick here to watch the interview.

Will Buemi make it in Toro Rosso ?

The waiting is over, the 2009 F1 seat is secure for Bourdais

Toro Rosso took their time but at the end they made the decision that many would consider being the right one. They chose Sebastien Bourdais over Takuma Sato for 2009 season. This decision also ends speculations about Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello possibly joining the Faenza team following collapse of Honda F1 project. This is what Le Seb had to say:

“It has been a very long and difficult winter, but now the waiting is finally over and I am really excited about tackling my second season with Scuderia Toro Rosso. I would like to thank Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz for this opportunity to continue with a team that made so much progress last year. Now, I can focus on preparing for the coming season. It promises to be a very interesting one, thanks to all the rule changes and I’m also looking forward to establishing a good relationship with my new teammate, Sebastien Buemi, to ensure both of us do the best possible job for the team and for Red Bull.”

Team boss Franz Tost:

“After one year with Toro Rosso, we expect him to profit from the experience he gained last season. He now knows the F1 environment, the race tracks and the team. In addition, the slick tyres, which make a comeback this year, should suit his driving style very well. Therefore he will tackle the coming season with much more experience under his belt. This will be especially valuable given that our other driver, Sebastien Buemi, is an F1 rookie, who has come up through the ranks of the Red Bull Junior Driver programme.”

Although I was hoping that Takuma Sato would eventually get this drive (being fan of Sato was the reason) I humbly accept the fact that giving Sebastien Bourdais at least one more season to prove himself probably is the wiser choice. .

The 2009 grid is now almost finalized, the only question marks remain over the “Honda” drivers if the team makes it.

Sebastien Bourdais confirmed by Toro Rosso

With the teams revealing their 2009 Formula One cars we also have chance to see some of the 2009 F1 drivers helmets. Here they come, including the new yellow helmet of Jenson Button . I will be adding more (or better) pictures as they become available.

Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Trulli and Piquet keep their helmets more less same as in 2008. Alonso added some red colour to his lid (to match the new colours of the Renault car probably).

Robert Kubica keeps his 2008 colours while Nick Heidfeld has changed his dominant helmet colour from 2008 blue to 2009 green after getting inspired by similar snowboard helmet.

2009 F1 Drivers Helmets

With all the eyes focused on future of the Brackley team formerly known as Honda we tend to forget that there is one more team with uncertain future also looking for a buyer – Scuderia Toro Rosso. The talk about Honda being suited by several interested parties may be encouraging for Red Bull. If there indeed are several parties in talk with Honda that means that even in the current conditions there are people interested in entering Formula 1. When (if) Honda is sold some of the loosing bidders may turn their eye to Toro Rosso. May, if the team is assured of future existence. Some sponsors on board would probably also do no harm to longe term prospects of the former Minardi team.

The requirement to turn team into a proper constructor from 2010 season puts an end to Red Bulls’ one car for two teams idea. The prospect of Toro Rosso having to build their own car resulted first in Dietrich Mateschitz putting the team up for sale (although he later denied he did so). Few months later Gerhard Berger sold his 50% of the team back to Mateschitz. The new conditions made no longer any commercial sense for Berger but many also saw that move as a consolidation of the ownership – a step that should facilitate future sale of the team.

However no matter how sucessful the team was in 2008 it will be difficult for them to find a buyer unless they build their own car. And if they want to race beyond 2009 that they will need to do no matter who will be the owner.

The signs are they are en route to do so. Already during last season Berger ordered increase of the Faenza factory workforce by about 50 people. There is also talk that while the 2009 car will still be designed by Red Bull Technolgy STR will be building their cars in its Faenza factory. I am not sure that this alone will make them full blown constructor, they will still need to design the new cars in the future. But once the factory is running all they will need is to get hand on a car design. There is probably already an army of experts working on the options. Of course the easiest way for Toro Rosso would be to take the 2009 car built by Red Bull Technology and use it as the base for their own car from 2010 on. I am not sure howeverthey would be allowed to use that third party loophole again …

Sebastien Buemi ready to make the step up to Formula One

At the moment the team has no funding other than that coming from Red Bull. Gerhard Berger while still in charge made no secret of the fact that ability to bring funds to the team will play big part in deciding STR’s 2009 drivers. In other words – the team was looking for a pay driver. It may be different now with Red Bull fully in charge. There is almost no doubt that Red Bull backed Sebastien Buemi will be one of the drivers. It will be interesting to see who will finally get the nod for the second seat. Many expected the announcement to come right after the last 2008 test but nothing has been announced yet. Bourdais, Sato and according to some also Barichello still remain in the picture. I do believe that if it comes down to commerce Sato would be the choice if for nothing else than for his popularity back in Japan, the one major energy drinks market where Red Bull is yet to make it big. Mateschitz may however go for the continuity and keep Bourdais or go for experience and place Barrichello next to the rookie Buemi. The decision is obviously not easy …

Can they afford to continue wasting this ad space ?

Red Bull may continue to fully fund both their F1 teams and use them as marketing vehicles for the brand. Red Bull at the end is all about marketing. How else would one make billions by selling carbonized water, sugar, taurine and caffeine packed in a can . But if they do want some sponsors to come on board of at least Toro Rosso team they might have to do something about that livery. The massive raging bull may have looked exciting back in 2006 but I must say that on the track it looks like a can of red paint spilled over the car, over the prime piece of real estate on that car.

So what will it be for Toro Rosso in 2009 ? Will they survive into 2010 and beyond or will Red Bull pull the plug on the team if no buyer comes to get it ?

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Photos: Red Bull/GEPA

What will 2009 bring for Toro Rosso ?

Sebastien Bourdais, no plan B yet

Testing, ugly cars, accidents, drivers future speculations and ideas of those in charge make this off season rather interesting .

We are all yet to digest Ecclestone’s idea of having drivers rewarded with medals instead of points and we have FOTA coming with their suggestions to spice up the show. The teams (at least some of them) are dicsussing some radical change to to qualifying (yet again). From what has been said it does look like the plan is to have sort of elimination race on Saturday to decide the grid.

All the cars would get on the track at the same time and with the same fuel level. The slowest car after every lap would be eliminated until only 6 are left. These six would do sort of shoot out for the top 6 grid positions. There is a talk about financial reward and a championship point for the pole setter. Sounds all sily and too complicated to me and judging from what is written all over the web I am not alone feeling this way. There is not much wrong about current qualifying. Except that race fuel in Q3 of course …

But one thing makes no sense here. On one hand Bernie says that teams are keen on his idea to scrap the points for drivers and go for the medals instead. At the same time the teams (FOTA) propose a point for the pole position. Hm …

It is nice to see that those in charge of Canadian GP do not plan to ever give up. The latest idea was for the car manufacturers to come up with the cash so F1 can keep presence in North America. Yes, I see the logic behind this. But I also remember that Ecclestone’s demands were branded “unreasonable” by the organizers. So unreasonable for organizers but reasonable for car manufactuerers ? If the car makers give in now and pay just to fill up Bernie’s pockets to keep any race on calendar it would only encourage Ecclestone to ask for even higher fees in the future …

The hunt for the remaining 2009 race seats is still on. Honda and Toro Rosso made use of the Barcelona test (click here for summary) to give chance to those with an eye on 2009 race drive. No decisions have been made yet. But Sebastien Buemi seems to be on track for the drive with Toro Rosso next year after Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz stated that “One will very likely be Buemi, the line-up will be confirmed before the last test in December.“. Takuma Sato, Sebastien Bourdais but also Rubens Barrichello and Bruno Senna all hope to land the other one. Bourdais in the meantime revealed that it will come down to money. He also said that he has no plan B:

“As far as I am concerned right now my priority is to stay here, but at some point I will have to make up my mind and take a potentially very difficult decision. In the meantime it is scary because I don’t know what I’ll be doing next year.“

Further down the pitlane Red Bull suffered setback after Mark Webber got injured during his charity challenge in Tasmania. Webber will very likely miss the entire winter testing season but should be ready by the time F1 comes to Melbourne. Perhaps they can ask Sebastien Loeb to test for them instead, he was not too bad behind the wheel of Red Bull F1 car (video here) !

Ferrari race drivers are taking rest but the team made the headlines with Valentino Rossi’s Formula 1 test. Rossi has no longer any plans to switch from MotoGp to F1 but he reckons he could have been good F1 driver.

Back to future of Grands Prix. The Mickey Mouse French GP is no more after scrapping of the Paris Disneyland F1 project. Ecclestone now does not see any chance for French GP return before 2011 season with Sarecelles project being the front runner now. But check Ecclestone’s language when it comes to French GP:

“We went to Magny Cours for the wrong reasons, for political reasons. Let’s try and avoid a repeat. What we want for sure is to find the right spot because the French Grand Prix has to be long lasting.“

What happened to that talk that he can live without French GP as F1 races in France anyway, somewhere near Nice … ? Why such change in attitude towards Grand Prix he was so willing to dump ?

Meanwhile there are changes planned for Singapore. The track is to be widened and run off areas extended at several places to promote more overtaking.

Here at F1Wolf voting for The Driver of the Year has begun. So far it is rather tight at the top with Hamilton, Massa Kubica and Alonso all doing well. The voting closes on December 15, you can vote now – click here for more information !

The Formula 1 Off Season News Round Up – Part 3

Sebastien Bourdais still not assured of his 2009 F1 drive and increasingly frustrated

End of 2007 season meant also the end of pay drivers in Formula 1. The last of them disappeared with Spyker team and so we haven’t seen any of them on the 2008 Formula 1 grid. This might also be one of the reasons why no driver lost his seat this year (except of course Super Aguri guys).

But if we are to believe Sebastien Bourdais (interview for GPUpdate.net), the pay driver institution is about to return.

“If it was just a team principal decision we would have already signed for next season. It is purely a financial issue unfortunately. Obviously it doesn’t really matter what they want if you don’t have the money. It is now a pretty simple, but nasty game. If you find the money you will be all right but if you don’t they put you on hold. They can’t make a decision until they have all the cards in their hands and I’m just playing the waiting game. I never expected it would be like this. This was not part of the deal. When I signed up the team looked to have enough funds but then…(pauses)… I don’t think I can comment too much about it really but mister Mateschitz is just doing what he said he was going to do. He will invest less and it will probably get worse next year. The team is unable to find good sponsors and when that is the case they just have to look for well funded drivers.”

Surprised ? Not really. Although Dietrich Mateschitz says he never put the Toro Rosso up for sale it must be clear to anyone that he can’t afford to support 2 Formula 1 teams, each building their own chassis. The team would either need a strong cash rich partner, generous title sponsor or a driver that could bring either cash or some sort of other benefit for the team or its current backers.

Cash rich partners are in short supply in the current economic climate and so may be the generous sponsors. So the only other avenue to cash are the right drivers. Although some media connected also Rubens Barrichello with the Toro Rosso seat it does look like the serious candidates left for the 2009 Toro Rosso drive are Sato, Buemi, Bourdais and Senna (who will also test with Toro Rosso this winter). Which one of them could pay his way to 2009 Formula 1 racing ?

Update:
This is what Takuma Sato had to say on the topic of buying the Toro Rosso seat:

I really don’t have cash. But of course I’d be very happy to bring a personal sponsor because if you add to the team’s budget it will make the team stronger. But not so much to buy yourself the seat, that’s obviously the second story. Of course we’re negotiating all the possibilities to have personal sponsors, but I really don’t know.

I’m here to drive, and from a driver’s point of view just to do the best in the cockpit. In terms of the engineering, I’m very happy to work (with Toro Rosso). The sponsor talk, I let my manager do. Hopefully the team will make a decision towards me, that’s only my point of view, but I cannot really prepare a budget.

Hopefully, maybe with this difficult economy, some good personal sponsors will support us and that will be an extra bonus for me.

Read also: Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato – Can That Go Wrong ?

By the way, how is talk like this helping Bourdais’ cause ?

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

Toro Rosso looking for well funded drivers – says Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais - should he stay or should he go ?

I started my 2008 F1 driver rankings yesterday with Part 1, here comes Part 2 covering the ranks 15 to 11:

15th David Coulthard

DC almost made it to Part 1 but at the end I found him a bit less disappointing than Heikki Kovalainen. Although Coulthard scored the only podium for Red Bull this year he was still clearly outperformed by his team mate. The 2:16 qualifying statistics says it all. Coulthard also got involved in many racing incidents ruining several races for himself and for few other drivers. The way the final race of his F1 careers went pretty much sums up his 2008 season.

14th Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais finally made it to F1 after spending several title winning seasons in the now defunct Champ Car series in the United States. But even he himself knew the transition to F1 won’t be easy. He scored points on his F1 debut in Australia but afterwards it was a long downhill ride accelerated by the introduction of new STR03 car. Towards the end of the season he lifted his game making it to Q3 6 times in last 7 GPs. He however rarely managed to built on that impressive qualifying on the race days. The jury is out now, the interest from other parties in those 2 Toro Rosso seats is rather big …

13th Rubens Barrichello

I should probably rank Barrichello lower but all the lower ranks are occupied already . But he managed to bring a really bad car to the podium (lucky one) and in my opinion he did generally OK this season, better than his team mate.

12th Kazuki Nakajima

He perhaps did better than many would have expected. But after quite impressive early season point scoring performances he faded away, same as the performance of the Williams car. He is OK but I wonder if he would still be with Williams if not for the Toyota engine deal …

11th Nico Rosberg

Not the best car but several Q3 qualifying performances and two podiums including his career best 2nd place finish in Singapore make this Rosberg’s best Formula 1 season so far although he scored less points and finished lower in drivers championship (13th with 17 points) than in 2007 (9th with 20 points). We can expect the “Rosberg to …” rumours and speculations to begin soon as 2009 will likely be his last season with Williams …

How would your 15th to 11th look ?

Stay tuned for the Part 3 (10th – 6th) and Part 4 (top 5).

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

2008 Formula 1 – Wolf’s Driver rankings – Part 2 – 15th to 11th

Sebastien Bourdais and Felipe Massa, 2008 Japanese GP

Another race, another controversy. And yet again it involved both main title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

Incident no 1 – Race start – Hamilton (and Kovalainen) vs Kimi

I watched the video replay of the race start few times (at the moment you can see it here). Raikkonen had quite good start and it looked like he is ahead of both McLarens. Kovalainen was next to him, Hamilton behind. Hamilton however seemed to be quicker and squeezed between Kovalainen and Raikkonen. Watching it from the front it looked like these three are next to each other. Then just before turning into the first corner Hamilton moved in Raikkonen’s direction leaving Raikkonen with nowhere to go but straight. It is hard to say if Hamilton touched Raikkonen or not. Raikkonen says that both McLarens hit him, Hamilton (when commenting on the penalties imposed on himself and Massa) insisted that he did not hit anybody:

Kimi Raikkonen:” I got a pretty good start and got into the first place but then braking into the first corner I was trying to turn in and there was first one McLaren and then a second and I think they both hit me and I had nowhere to go. I needed to go straight.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “Kimi initially jumped Lewis and then I think Lewis was trying to fight back. They both went a bit deep and I also went a bit deep. I don’t know… I thought it was just a normal first corner.”

This is what the top 3 had to say about the penalty at the post race press conference:

To all drivers: the stewards decided to give Lewis Hamilton a drive-through penalty for what happened at the start. Do you consider that was fair?

Fernando Alonso: I agree. (no love lost here )

Kimi Raikkonen: I don’t know. I didn’t see the whole thing. I only saw him when he came up next to me. I’m not sure if he hit me or not but they make their decisions, so I have nothing against it.

Robert Kubica: I don’t know what happened in the first corner, so it’s difficult to judge.

I think under normal circumstances the stewards would judge this incident the way Heikki Kovalainen saw it – just a normal first corner. There was a move towards Kimi from Hamilton and yes Kimi could not turn into the corner as he had Hamilton’s car to his right. But was that an illegal move from Hamilton ? Hard to say, aggressive – definitelly, illegal – I am not that convinced. Stewards were and Hamilton received driver through penalty.

Incident no 2 – Lap 2, Turn 10 – Hamilton vs Massa

After the poor start and all the mess in the early stages of the race Lewis Hamilton found himself even behind Felipe Massa. He tried to recover the lost ground and get back ahead of his title rival. Hamilton managed to do just that. But then Massa attempted to get the position back, Hamilton however did not leave the door open, Massa took the gravel way and hit Hamilton. Massa survived and went on, Hamilton however spun and had to wait for the entire field to pass before rejoining the race. (video also here).

When I saw the incident first time and then again from the replay during the race I did not see much wrong from Massa. I was actually thinking it was Hamilton who pushed Massa out of the track. But after seeing few more replays it did look to me like Massa was all out of the track (all four wheels behind the white line) and perhaps should have given the position back to Hamilton (who was ahead at that moment anyway). We know how it played out. I may be going against the popular opinion here but I do think that this was 50:50 situation and none of the drivers should have been penalized. Stewards thought differently and penalized Massa with drive through. Here is how two drivers involved seen this and also the first corner incident:

Lewis Hamilton: “You can always look back and wish you’d done something (differently) – I made a mistake and I paid for it. That sort of thing happens, you’ve just got to keep your head up and keep going. “

Felipe Massa (on the race start incident): “On the start, he made a bad start and Kimi passed him. Then he tried to brake completely when everybody was in the corner. He pushed to a much wider line and [Heikki] Kovalainen was on a wider line as well, so it was a big casino over there. For me that was a little bit too optimistic especially if you are thinking about the championship.”

Felipe Massa (on the lap 2 Turn 10 incident): “He [Hamilton] braked very late and I braked very late, and then I was a little bit wide in the first part of the corner. Then he had my inside line and pushed me a little bit wide in the gravel, and then I went with the wheels on the gravel but the next corner was on the left. Then we just touched each other, so in my opinion it was a racing incident. But we had a drivethrough and we paid, and it is a bit difficult to speak after the race when we have already had the drivethrough.”

Did he crash into Hamilton deliberately:

“For sure not, I [Massa] had two wheels on the gravel. I could not stop the car and I was on the gravel because he [Hamilton] pushed me into the gravel.”

Were the penalties justified:

Felipe Massa: “For him yes, for me I am not sure.”

Lewis Hamilton: We both got the same penalty, but I didn’t hit anyone and he did. I guess that’s just the name of the game.

Not surprisingly Hamilton and Massa are not in agreement here. I think that both these 2 incidents were somewhere on the edge of legality, perhaps Hamilton’s offence more on the legal side while Massa’s leaned more towards the illegal. The stewards chose to act neutrally and penalized both. Right or wrong ? Frankly I have no idea, after the incidents in the recent races I have no idea any more what is and what is not OK when 2 cars get close on the race track …

Incident no 3 – Lap 50, pit lane exit through the Turn 1 – Bourdais vs Massa

If the 2 above incidents resulted in controversial rulings by stewards, this one is rather bizzare … I was surprised when the stewards announced this incident to be investigated after the race. I though well, they will look into it, realized nothing really happened and will not penalize Massa again. Well, they did not penalize Massa (as I expected), they penalized Bourdais with 25 seconds penalty…

Find more videos like this on F1Wolf Club
Massa vs Bourdais video

Sebastien Bourdais: “For me it’s very clear. Yes, I exit the pits, yes I’m supposed to be careful and I was. I stayed inside and I didn’t push him out, I didn’t overshoot the corner. I did everything I could not to run into him and he just squeezed and turned and behaved like I didn’t exist, like I wasn’t there. What am I supposed to do? I’ve been in this position many, many times and I never had any incidents. It’s just a little bit of respect, you give each other room and then everything goes right, but if you don’t for sure it’s going to be an incident.”

Now, as as I said, I am no longer sure what is and what is not OK when 2 cars meet on the track in F1, I can’t tell whether this penalty is justified or not. I however think, it is not. All it did it deprived Bourdais and Toro Rosso of hard earned points and reduced Massa’s gap to Hamilton to 5 points only…

Although I am not one of those who would no matter what feel that Hamilton is hard done by FIA (at the end, if he kept out of trouble as he said he would there would not be much for stewards to do about him) I feel that it really is about the time FIA did something. Not only about the stewards but about the rules. As long as the rules are as vague as they are the stewards will never get it right. There will always be someone who will feel hard done, there will always be accusation of pro-somebody bias …

2008 Japanese F1 GP – Stewards vs Hamilton vs Massa vs Bourdais