Stewards at the Japanese grand prix had a busy Sunday afternoon at Fuji Speedway.
After a tumultuous wet race, Spyker’s Adrian Sutil was handed the team’s first ever point after it was found that Vitantonio Liuzzi had in his Toro Rosso overtaken him under a yellow flag.
“It is a great feeling, even if we didn’t get it on the track,” Sutil said.
The occupant of the other Toro Rosso, Sebastian Vettel, was also punished for crashing into Mark Webber in a safety car period.
He will start next Sunday’s Chinese grand prix probably from the back of the grid when a ten-position qualifying penalty is applied in Shanghai.
The Spanish publication ‘Marca’ claimed after the race that stewards were investigating race winner Lewis Hamilton for braking unnecessarily behind the safety car, and possibly contributing to the Vettel-Webber incident.
The news was, however, discredited elsewhere in the paddock.
The FIA, meanwhile, is believed to have apologised to Ferrari after an email detailing the tyre rule change did not arrive in time.
Ferrari was particularly upset that, as is often the case, the important information was displayed neither on the official pitwall monitors, or via a pitlane courier who – under article 15.1 of the sporting regulations – requires a signature verifying receipt.
“Very important communications should be issued using a very direct system, because you aren’t necessarily in the office at that time,” said sporting director Stefano Domenicali.
