Theissen Criticises the Stewards

BMW Motorsport director, Dr. Mario Theissen, criticised the US Grand Prix stewards, after they handed a black flag to Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya more than 90 minutes after the breach of rules had taken place.

Montoya was black-flagged after 57 of the 73 laps and retired in the pits while third, and after running as high as second. The stewards said in a statement that Montoya, who had a problem on the grid after qualifying fifth, was penalised for incorrect use of the spare car.

"If you decide to change your car on the grid, the driver must be off the grid himself - not necessarily the car - within 15 seconds of the start," explained team boss Frank Williams. "We were off about 13 seconds."

But Williams engine suppliers were unhappy with the time it has taken the stewards to decide on excluding Montoya and serving him the black flag.

"I haven't talked to the FIA people," Theissen said. "They will probably say that they were very busy with the incidents that happened on the track...but certainly we would have preferred to know immediately what was going on.

"It happened on the installation lap so there was plenty of time even before the start and early in the race to declare that that was not correct."

Theissen clarified, however, that he was not criticising the penalty itself, which he said was understandable.

"The issue itself is clear, it's black and white," the German said. "[Montoya]He hadn't left the grid 15 seconds before the start of the installation lap...so that is not open to discussion."