Bernie Ecclestone says that Yellow flag issue is a joke – Formula 1 news
FIA president, Bernie Ecclestone, has stated that the yellow flag issue regarding the result of the Brazilian Grand Prix raised by Ferrari is a joke.
“It's a shame because everything had gone so well,” Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph. “It was a super race, a super championship. Now everyone is talking about this. The problem is that no one knows what is going on. In the rules and regulations normally
you have to protest. They [Ferrari] missed that time. Then there is the fact that a green flag was shown, which nobody seems to dispute. It's a complete joke. What they [Ferrari] are saying in that letter is wrong. I don't think there needs to be any action
taken. It's completely and utterly wrong.”
He added that on a personal level he has been disappointed by the action taken by Ferrari as he does not expect such things from the team. He thinks that they had become too eager to win. He said that there will be no result of this action and if they make
a civil case out of this, even then the case is flawed right from where it begins.
Ferrari had requested a clarification from the governing body regarding Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel overtaking Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne under the yellow flags. FIA had been very brief in their reply saying that there was no case to answer.
The issue had arisen due to a video that showed Vettel making the overtake under the yellow flags. Race steward, Gary Connolly, confirmed that they were red and yellow flags so Vettel did nothing wrong.
The rules say that if a green flag is shown before the green light boards then the green flag is given priority. Vettel passed the green flag before overtaking which makes it obvious that he is not at mistake.
The rules being evaluated alongside FIA’s statement have made it clear that Vettel, who had complained earlier about his rivals playing dirty tricks, cannot be punished with a twenty second penalty which would have resulted in Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso winning
the championship by one point.
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