Jean-Eric Vergne has not lost his tenth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix after his collision with Charles Pic in the pits.
Vergne was released from the pits by his team while Pic was arriving in the box in front and the pair made contact.
The stewards fined Toro Rosso ?óÔÇÜ?¼10,000 (?é?ú8,530) for the incident but imposed no further penalty on the driver.
“We had a poor release from Jev’s pit stop and he collided with a Caterham which cost us a lot of time, as we had to pull him back for a new nose,” said team principal Franz Tost.
“The Stewards have fined us for a dangerous release from a pit stop and we agree with their decision.”
Vergne scored his first point of the year with tenth place.
2013 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Horner: Vettel and Webber have a “healthy rivalry”
- Webber wins Malaysian GP Driver of the Weekend
- Red Bull gives up on team orders as Vettel admits he would defy them again
- Malaysia retirement no concern for Alonso
- Massa: Red Bull’s team orders not “intelligent”
Image © Red Bull/Getty
Mehmet (@)
24th March 2013, 12:11
That were actually 2 pit stops on one attempt. So Toro Rosso – and Vergne as well – have actually been punished already.
MDian
24th March 2013, 12:12
Hardly Vergne’s fault, he just went when the green light told him to, so correct decision all round.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th March 2013, 12:34
I think its only right that they punish the team for the mistake here, after all Vergne was already slowed a lot by the incident itself, and there’s not much he could have done to avoid it himself.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
24th March 2013, 12:43
I’m eagerly waiting for ‘stats and facts’..already found out quite a few!!
Slr (@slr)
24th March 2013, 12:44
For the sake of consistency, a drive through would have been the right penalty to apply. In the past we’ve seen drivers like Webber, Kubica and Kobayashi get drive through penalties for unsafe releases.
ivz (@ivz)
24th March 2013, 12:50
Isn’t it the stewards job to be consistently inconsistent? :)
GT_Racer
24th March 2013, 12:58
What was done in the past doesn’t mean anything as there have been some amendments regarding punishments such as this for this season.
Basically when it comes to pit related penalty’s, There running to different rules this year, All the teams/drivers have been informed & there have been zero complaints.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
24th March 2013, 12:55
The correct punishment. Team error, not driver.
Would be interested to hear if anything is done about Massa unsafe release on Perez or Hulkenberg unsafe release on Raikkonen.
Also, even tho it didn’t impede anyone else, the Button release was unsafe too. Lucky he reacted quickly enough and that the pits weren’t busy at the time.
Fixy (@)
24th March 2013, 15:28
I knew this was coming when they said the incident was going to be discussed after the race. I think it’s the right call, Vergne did nothing wrong.
George (@george)
24th March 2013, 16:38
Shouldn’t that money go to Caterham, seeing as they have to pay for the damage to their car?
Ben (@scuderia29)
24th March 2013, 17:48
can someone explain why this had to be investigated after the race??
it happened early in the race….what happened was VERY clear, of course Toro Rosso were at fault, so why not deal the punishment there and then? why do they even bother having stewards at the race if they have to wait until after the race to make a decision on an incident like that? :S
Lee1
25th March 2013, 10:01
I agree, I have no idea why they had to wait…. Also why was Massas not investigated at all?