Q & A with Franz Tost

"When they explained to us that Tonio (Liuzzi) had overtaken under yellow, we investigated later and talked to Toni about everything, and the result was that he has not overtaken under yellow.

"The yellow flag was waved at marshall position 17, which is nearly in the middle of the start/finish line."

Q: Which was waved for Anthony Davidson's car, wasn't it?

Tost: "For Davidson, yes. Then, at the end of the start/finish line, going into Turn 1, there is marshall Post 1, and normally they should have waved the green flag. And Tonio overtook Sutil in the area of marshall Post 3. That means it was near the exit of Turn 1.

"So at marshall Post 1, he should have waved the green flag. Tonio overtook at marshall Post 3, which was far away from the incident.

"Now, we explained to the stewards of the meeting that during the race we hadn't got any information on the screen that said, for example, 'car number 18 is under investigation'. Nothing. Five minutes after the race, nothing.

"I assume that someone from Spyker - I don't know who - went to complain that Tonio overtook (Adrian) Sutil under yellow.

"And then it went to the stewards, and the stewards started to investigate this incident, and then they came up and said that Spyker were right and that Liuzzi overtook under yellows, which I think was definitely wrong. So we appealed."

Q: Was there a green flag anywhere?

Tost: "There was no green flag."

Q: So you had no idea where the yellows ended

Tost: "When no yellow flag is being waved, it means there is no yellow flag. For me, marshall Post 1 should have waved green. They didn't wave green. It was a mistake from their side.

"But this doesn't mean for me that a driver has to be penalised, because it's their fault, not the drivers' fault. When I am sitting in the cockpit as a driver, if I don't see a yellow flag being waved, then for me it's green. It's the same as green. And this is what Tonio thought as well.

"I would have accepted a penalty if Tonio had overtaken on the start/finish line. But at marshall Post 3 (the exit of turn 1) it is far away."

Q: It's 1.5km

Tost: "I don't know how far it is. But also, other cars wouldn't have been allowed to overtake at any point if they had waited until a green flag had come out.

"There are different issues and topics regarding why, in the end, we decided to appeal.

"First, Tonio did not overtake under a waved yellow flag. Second, during the race there was no information that car number 18 would be investigated because of an infringement. And three, we saw from the GPS system that on marshall point 17, the yellow light was on, and that marshall Post 1 it was off."

Q: What about the cockpit yellow light?

Tost: "The cockpit yellow light, yeah. That is an indication for a driver that there is not an incident out there anymore."

Q: Does it hurt your story that Tonio apparently changed his story - he told autosport.com one thing, and then went to the stewards and changed his story, apparently. Did that happen?

Tost: "I don't know the story on the website."

Q: He said that he overtook Sutil on the way out of Turn 1, and then he changed it to say that he overtook him out of Turn 2 or 3, or something

Tost: "I don't know about this. What is out of Turn 1? For me, he overtook Sutil quite clearly after marshall Post 1. For me, after marshall Post 1 is the end of the story. There is not a waved yellow flag anymore, and therefore overtaking is allowed. Where it is after, that doesn't matter.

"I know that from the camera angle they viewed, they saw the start/finish line and it was quite clear that Tonio stayed behind Sutil coming out from Turn 1. And from then onwards, you can't see it anymore. So for sure it must have been after that."

Q: Will the appeal be heard before the Brazilian GP?

Tost: "The appeal is for the 12th of October. Next Friday."

Q: Spyker argued that you had an advantage after being waved back on to the lead lap, after the lead lap. Is that an issue?

Tost: "It can't be an issue, because it's the regulations. It's nothing to do with Tonio or the special start procedure. There was a safety car, and during a safety car you can be let back."

Q: Are you confident that you can get the championship point back?

Tost: "Yes, because it was quite obvious and totally clear that we stayed within the regulations."