FIA to Review Penalties During Races

Formula One penalties may be changed following the imposing of a 10 second stop/go penalty on Jordan's Jarno Trulli during the German Grand Prix.

Trulli was given the penalty for overtaking Rubens Barrichello under the yellow flag but race officials agreed that the penalty did not fit the crime, and race director Charlie Whiting has agreed to look at procedures to see if they might be changed.

At first, Trulli's Jordan team could not understand why he had been given the penalty at all. They asked the stewards to look at footage of the incident. At the time, the Safety Car had just come out. Barrichello was exiting the pits when the race was under control of the Safety Car at the start of lap 27 when Trulli made the overtaking move.

On reflection, Trulli admitted to Whiting that he did remember the incident. Barrichello was actually clear of the white lines marking the pit lane exit when Trulli overtook the eventual winner, which meant that he had contravened the regulations. Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt was sufficiently incensed by the manoeuvre to draw it to the attention of the stewards.

Trulli was brought in on lap 37 for a 10s penalty which effectively ended his points-scoring chances. However, when Trulli went to see Whiting after the race, he pointed out that in ChampCar racing, in similar circumstances, a message would have gone out from the respective teams to the two cars asking them simply to reverse positions and Whiting is to investigate if this could in fact be adopted in Formula One.