24/09/2013
NEWS STORY
Reacting to the reprimand which has cost him a ten-place grid penalty in Korea, Mark Webber has said the stewards decision in Singapore was comical.
The Australian was reprimanded after the race for the incident in which he hitched a lift with Fernando Alonso after his own car ground to a halt on the final lap after its engine gave up.
Fans and media were delighted by the sight of the Red Bull driver sitting on the side of the Ferrari, bringing back memories of the iconic moment in 1991 when Ayrton Senna cadged a lift with Nigel Mansell at Silverstone.
However, going by the book the officials didn't see it through the same rose-coloured lenses. Deciding that "the driver of car 2 (Webber) went onto the track without the permission of marshals, a breach of Article 30.9 (b) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, the Australian was handed a reprimand. This, combined with those picked up in Bahrain and Canada automatically invoke the grid penalty for Korea.
Subsequent CCTC footage showed Webber running across the track to wave down a car, and while Alonso stopped to pick up the Australian at least two other cars had to take avoiding action.
The driver of one of those cars, Lewis Hamilton, admitted to being "shocked" to coming around a corner and finding Alonso stopped in the middle of the track, but also said he thought the incident, and the memories it brought back, was "cool".
However, Derek Warwick, the Drivers' Steward in Singapore, and president of the BRDC, was adamant about the punishment.
"It is not health and safety gone mad," he told the Daily Telegraph. "A driver could easily have been hurt.
"I hope we're not seen as killjoys," he continued. "I want Formula One to be entertaining. I want it to be a spectacle. I'm a big fan of MotoGP and I wish we in Formula One could get closer to the drivers like they do in MotoGP.
"We have become a bit sterile in many ways in Formula One. But we cannot put drivers at risk. If it had been done in a safer manner, then it might have been viewed differently but this was potentially very dangerous. You can't have cars parked in the middle of a corner."
Referring to the reprimand and the knock-on effect it will have, he admitted: "We had no other tools in our box other than to forget it, and we didn't think we could just ignore it. The really unfortunate thing was that Mark incurred a grid penalty for Korea but we had to judge this case in isolation. We didn't look at his two previous reprimands when we took our decision."
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday morning, Webber wrote: "For @alo_oficial (Fernando Alonso) and me to receive reprimands for our actions after the race it is comical to say the least. Great moment, and fans loved it.
"And while I'm at it, contrary to reports ,there was no interaction at all with any track officials after we put the fire out."
He then tweeted a whole range of pictures of previous occasions when drivers hitched rides - including one of Warwick sitting on the back of Gerhard Berger's Ferrari.
Rumours that Webber was keen to get back to the pits in order to join pals underneath the podium for the trophy ceremony and subsequent interview with the race winner have yet to be confirmed.
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