Sunday, March 29, 2009

25s penalty for Trulli & fines galore for Vettel

Sunday 29th March 2009

Jarno Trulli has fallen out of the points for the Australian GP after being slapped with a 25sec penalty by the race stewards for overtaking Lewis Hamilton under a Safety Car while Seb Vettel has not one but two punishments.

The final lap of Sunday's grand prix, which took place behind a Safety Car after a huge crash involving Vettel and Robert Kubica, saw Trulli, who was lying in third place spin his Toyota TF109, allowing Lewis Hamilton through.

But rather than accept the situation the Italian retook the third place, which broke the F1 regulations that state no overtaking behind the Safety Car.

As a result the Toyota driver was slapped with a 25second penalty, which dropped him from third place to 12th with Mark Webber the only runner behind him in the classification.

Toyota are believed to be considering an appeal.

Meanwhile Vettel was hit with not one but two punishments after causing the penultimate lap accident that cost both him and Kubica a podium finish. But because he didn't finish the grand prix, he will take a ten-grid slot penalty through to the next race in Malaysia.

His woes, though, didn't stop there.

Because of his damaged car Vettel was obliged to park it but he didn't, instead trying to continue through to the last lap as other were not allowed to pass him. His actions resulted in the Aussie stewards handing him a cash fine of $50,000.

Source : Planet F1

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