The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team has been awarded its first-ever World Championship point after the FIA Stewards of the Meeting decided that Toro Rosso’s Vitantonio Liuzzi had overtaken Adrian Sutil under a yellow flag on lap 55 of today’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Liuzzi has been handed a 25 second penalty, which promotes Adrian to eighth overall, the final points scoring position. This one point is both Adrian and the team’s first points in the FIA Formula One World Championship and lifts Spyker to 9th overall in the constructors’ championship.
Adrian Sutil
‘For sure I think we deserved this point after all the hard work this year and we finally got it. It is a great feeling, even if we didn’t get it on the track. I think it was the right decision, there was no green flag after this yellow flag from turn one, so we were definitely right and that is why we got this point.’
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director
‘We had clear evidence that Liuzzi passed Adrian under yellow flags and I am pleased that the Stewards of the Meeting agreed. The decision, which has ultimately given us our first-ever point, is a just reward for Adrian, who drove an excellent race today. It is also a well-deserved boost for all the team’s hard work this year. Now we have this milestone ticked off, we can now focus on on moving forward and being in the points on a more regular basis. We’re all looking forward to China now.’
