Da Matta: Penalty was a Mistake

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta has called for the FIA to review the situation with blue flags following a penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Toyota driver was given a drive-through penalty for ignoring the blue flags while Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was about to lap him. Da Matta, who was happy with his first points of the season after finishing in sixth place, said the penalty had been a mistake.

"I think that we had a good race, probably the strongest pace we have had since the beginning of the year," said da Matta. "To finish in sixth place and to score three championship points is an excellent result for us this weekend, but we should have had even more.

"I had a clutch problem, which lost me time at my second pit stop and then I was given a drive-through penalty for apparently ignoring blue flags. I really think that the situation with blue flags has to be looked into because our race was compromised a lot with the mistake that was made today.

"I was only a couple of seconds behind Rubens and I was almost able to get out in front of him after my first pitstop. It was just unfortunate that we had this blue flag incident. Basically, we had a fourth place in our hands today and came away with a sixth."

Frenchman Olivier Panis completed Toyota's good day by finishing in eighth position, the point allowing the Japanese squad to move into seventh position in the standings.

"With all the problems we had at the start where the car stalled twice, to finish in eighth is positive for all the team," said Panis. "I am very happy for the whole Toyota family that we could do just that.

"This is just the first step, now we need to carry on and look to next weekend's race at the Nurburgring."