The FIA stewards have further muddied the waters about what an ?unsafe release? from the pits is.
They gave a penalty to GP2 driver Bruno Senna for incident that was almost identical to
the one involving Ferrari?s Felipe Massa at Valencia two weeks ago -
when Massa got no penalty.
In today?s GP2 feature race at Spa-Francorchamps Bruno Senna was released from the pits alongside the Durango car of Alberto Valerio,
just as Massa was released alongside Adrian Sutil. In a near carbon copy of the Valencia controversy, Senna drove alongside Valerio?s car before slotting in behind it. Senna, like Massa, was leading the race before his pit stop.
The FIA stewards described Massa?s move as ?Unsafe release from pit stop, although no sporting advantage was obtained.? It?s hard to see how the same assessment does not apply to Bruno Senna.
After the Valencia incident Ferrari were told the matter would be investigated after the race, and then received a ?10,000 (?7,979) penalty. It was clear they didn?t expect Massa to get a time penalty, as
his lap times fell off sharply towards the end of the race
But in the GP2 race the announcement very quickly came that Senna was being investigated,
and he was shortly given a standard drive-through penalty.
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