Michael Schumacher was given a reprimand for his collision with Sergio Perez during the Singapore Grand Prix.
The stewards deemed he was “involved in an incident as defined by Article 16.1 of the 2011 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.”
The stewards also handed down fines to two teams for infringements during the race.
Lotus received an ?����?�10,000 (�8,760) fine for unsafely releasing Heikki Kovalainen into the path of Sebastian Vettel when Kovalainen pitted on lap 47.
And Renault were fined following a mix-up on the radio with Bruno Senna.
During the safety car period the team incorrectly informed Senna he was racing Sergio Perez for position. The Sauber driver was in fact a lap ahead.
The pair later made contact as Senna attempted to overtake Perez, thinking they were on the same lap.
Renault were fined ?����?�7,500 (�6,570) for failing “to inform the driver of his correct race position which lead to an avoidable collision with… Sergio Perez.”
2011 Singapore Grand Prix
Image © Mercedes
gavmaclean (@gavmaclean)
25th September 2011, 23:32
Heinz-Harald coulda been a bit harsher with old Michael…
shadow (@shadow)
26th September 2011, 0:24
Why did Weber not reprimanded nor penalized in Monza (previous race) for causing an avoidable accident?
rubin
26th September 2011, 1:56
because that was an unavoidable racing incident, and was clearly visible on TV.
Web went for the overtake, tried to get out of it as Massa shut the door on him, and the curbing on the corner pushed him further out.
icemangrins (@icemangrins)
26th September 2011, 3:28
and why wasn’t Webber reprimanded for running into the back of Heiki in Valencia 2010?
BasCB (@bascb)
26th September 2011, 9:04
In 2010 a reprimand was not really a punisment at all. At least now it has a bit of a meaning in that you can collect 3 of them resulting in a penalty.
Fixy (@)
30th September 2011, 18:07
Massa’s fault, as always. Massa was on the inside and braked later, re-passing Mark which then dive on the inside rather than dropping behind the Brazilian. It was an avoidable accident, ot once Webber was on the kerbs but before.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
26th September 2011, 8:08
Because he didn’t cause any avoidable accidents at Monza.
Duke (@duke)
26th September 2011, 11:26
LOL,Schumi pinched his girlfiend,who is now his wife.
Schumi is doing OK in most fans eyes,he doesn’t need any lessons on track etiquette or driving skills.
He has been there,done it and got the T shirt to prove it.
You could see he mas as H*** but at HIMSELF,for making that error.Schumi has always been extremely controlled even as a youngster.
Anyway Go Schumi for Japan!
UKfanatic (@)
25th September 2011, 23:39
I think they made the right decision, they arent being consistent with the severity but I belive that they are now compensating, leaving Schumacher free and also Hamilton if he had received a reprimand we would have an less exciting Japanese Gp.
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
26th September 2011, 5:43
I think a reprimand is exactly what is needed.
It was immediately obvious to me that Pérez was not going to yield the position to Schumacher. As soon as Pérez exited the corner he stayed to the right instead of moving left to line up for Turn 8. Schumacher tried to stick his nose into a gap that did not exist – there was no space for him where he moved.
I think the reprimand isn’t for causing the accident per se, but rather as a warning for the gross error in judgement.
George (@george)
25th September 2011, 23:43
I think that’s the right call on all three counts.
Taking Michael’s in particular as it’s the most controversial; he was trying to do an overtake similar to Hamilton’s on Sutil, but Perez lifted off before there was space for Schumi to come through. It was Schumi’s responsibility to avoid him but as he said it was unexpected and he was too close to react.
The difference between that and Hamilton’s move on Massa is that Massa didn’t do anything unexpected, and had nowhere else to go, and Hamilton actually turned into him, whereas Schumi was going straight and waiting for Perez to move over and take the racing line.
As far as I know Perez didn’t take significant damage either.
Journeyer (@journeyer)
25th September 2011, 23:45
Perez scored points. No damage there, then. :D
George (@george)
25th September 2011, 23:47
I think you mean a point (singular)? :P
I forgot to mention the Rosberg crash, that was a legitimate overtaking move and he just locked up and went a bit too deep, very much a racing incident.
BasCB (@bascb)
26th September 2011, 9:06
Did Perez get hampered more by that unfortunate episode with Senna?
Warren2185 (@warren2185)
26th September 2011, 2:11
Perfect analysis George. I’m going to generalize here, but the basics are that most of the penalties for “avoidable contact” are given to the guy who does the hitting from behind. And in this instance it looked like Michael would at least have some explaining to do to the stewards. Obviously, he did the hitting from behind. So,on American television they were asking Michael about it and his excuse was this-and-that, including Perez lifted unexpectedly. Then the interviewer asks Michael if he thinks he’ll be asked to go before the stewards and Shumacher says…”No, I don’t think he did it on purpose”. Wow, now that’s one way to look at it. Good grief.
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
26th September 2011, 5:46
The interviewer in question (Speed TV’s Will Buxton) actually asked Schumacher if he was going to go to the stewards to complain about Pérez’s driving.
d3v0 (@d3v0)
26th September 2011, 4:15
Hamilton had a momentary lock up as he was turning in, and did a bit more of a slid into rather than a turn into
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th September 2011, 23:51
Funny mistake by Renault. Shows how bad it’s going for them…!
BasCB (@bascb)
26th September 2011, 9:06
But I really cannot remember being shown any footage of that at all by the FOM. That is the real scandal here!
mrgrieves (@mrgrieves)
26th September 2011, 0:06
Going by the season so far im pleasantly surprised Schumacher didnt get a penalty for Suzuka. Not going to go down with the Hamilton conspiracy club however!
Mahir C
26th September 2011, 2:17
Steward seem to be making their decisions on whether the innocent party was harmed. Schu got a penalty in Silverstone for basically a clumsy error because Kobayashi lost out, Hamilton the same today, possibly in Monaco as well. Seems somehow wrong to me, they should only take action on reckless and dangerous moves, but fair enough as long as they are consistent. But why was Webber not fined in Canada or Monza then when he made Massa spin? I remember similar situations last year, Webber made Hamilton spin in Australia, Barrichello rammed Alonso in Spa and neither got a penalty.
BTW, how the Sauber remained intact is beyond me.
Kelly (@kelly)
26th September 2011, 3:39
Were you watching the same races? Hamilton spun Webber in Canada.
Mahir C
26th September 2011, 17:07
Ah!Now I remember that one. Thanks.
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
26th September 2011, 5:49
I don’t think you’re assigning Massa an appropriate share of the responsibility for the Monza incident with Webber, considering Webber was ahead momentarily (but not clear), and Massa simply did not leave any room for Webber, who was already at the extreme edge of the track when Massa boxed him out.
@HoHum (@hohum)
27th September 2011, 18:16
I wonder, has anybody been able to pass Massa cleanly, outside the DRS zone, this year ? He seems to be involved in more incidents than any of the other top-team drivers.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
26th September 2011, 3:33
It was Micheal error,I guess the incident that happened could have had happened 100-150 meters back when nearly touch before the incident.
Alex (@)
26th September 2011, 7:31
Senna’s penalty makes me curious. If you’ve been lapped by someone but you’re clearly faster – say, Alonso had had a crash and was now amongst the backmarkers – are you allowed to overtake them to unlap yourself?
I certainly understand the rules when the racer in front is faster: you have to get out of their way. But what happens when the racer behind is faster? Perhaps the same ought to apply… after all, the idea is that they’re not really racing each other.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th September 2011, 7:58
Yes, that’s always been the case.
Kubica unlapping himself was the beginning of Hamilton’s trauma in the final laps at Interlagos in 2008. I remember some rather uninformed people criticising him for it, when of course he had done nothing wrong.
icemangrins (@icemangrins)
26th September 2011, 12:57
Monoco 2006… Schumi and Fisi were lapped by Alonso and at some point, Alonso let both of them through while they were fighting for postion and they were quicker than Alonso.
Eggry (@eggry)
26th September 2011, 12:21
Well, he retired, Perez wasn’t harmed. No brainer.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
26th September 2011, 13:45
Bit of a weird one about Perez and Senna. Perhaps with him being so far backed they just assumed they were racing!
I’m sure all the teams will be able to root around the cushions on their couches to cough up the fines ;)
Robbie (@robbie)
26th September 2011, 14:35
MS was lucky to just get a reprimand. This is yet another incident that shows he is desperately overdriving the car. He didn’t stand a chance of getting by SP at that spot on the track unless he somehow had decided SP was going to let him go by as if he was a backmarker to MS. To call MS’s move ‘a bit optimistic’ is an understatement. It was ridiculous and to me looked like all MS saw was NR pulling away from him and couldn’t stand the thought of it.
How many front wings (or more) is this for MS this season? Seems like he and LH are going for the ‘most front wings needed in a season’ trophy.
I contend that MS has been overdriving the car all season, which to his fans has been taken as ‘MS is back,’ at least lately, whereas when you look at it closely he has been ragged. His run at Spa that looked impressive on paper was helped by many cars involved in an incident at the start helping him to get by very soon in the race, but in short order he passed PdR but was overcooking it and had to cut the corner shortly after. ie. he was carrying too much pace after the pass and was lucky to not damage his car or spin by cutting said corner. At Monza, the race of his controversial maneuvers in front of LH, he also cut a corner to pass FA after which he immediately ceded the position back to FA, so no harm there, other than that he once again overcooked it and could have spun, damaged his car, or hit somebody.
Anyway, to me for those who think MS ‘is back’ I say think again. NR once again outqualified him and outpointed him, MS was once again involved in controversy, and I have to conclude with 5 races to go that MS is acting desperate at still being outpointed by his teammate (gap is back to 10 points) and therefore his signs of speed or ability to hold somebody behind might as well be thrown out the window because he isn’t controlling the car. Far too many incidents for a 7 time WDC…just shows me all that it took for his numbers compilation at Ferrari. Without all the advantages he had in the past he now just looks like somebody you don’t want to be near on Sunday afternoon of a race weekend.
@HoHum (@hohum)
27th September 2011, 18:22
I think it is the mark of a great driver that they manage to drive a car beyond its natural performance and continue to race rather than circulate.
ed
26th September 2011, 14:48
FOM did not show any footage of Senna trying to overtake Perez .. where is it?
..after this problem, Senna dropped more than 30 sec behind Liuzzi… and still managed to overtake Liuzzi, Petrov and Alguersuari .. looks a very decent race in a poor car ..
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th September 2011, 14:52
I’ve not had a chance to re-watch the onboard feed, it may be on there.
Mallesh Magdum (@malleshmagdum)
26th September 2011, 20:00
where can i find those onboard videos?