Felipe Massa’s grid error to be investigated but not penalised
Well, Formula One is never free of surprises, controversies, contradictions, conflicts and what not; the sport has always claimed enough media coverage for its on and off track action and drama, let it be positive or negative. The sport which is considered most technical and scientific and has some of the sharpest and most brainy people from around the globe, at times simply leaves every one shocked. This time the shocking part is not the manufacture of another super gadget or device, rather it is the big mistake that makes everyone surprised for how it could have been ignored.
Can you believe hundreds of people on track, teams, marshals, race organisers and many others in addition to the super mechanical systems of checking and yet a car started off the race from a foot ahead of its actual place on the grid. To further surprise everyone FIA has taken four days before the investigation started and in the meanwhile none of the other teams or marshals launched a complaint.
Finally FIA has announced to launch an investigation to inquire how Felipe Massa of Ferrari was able to begin his race at Spa-Francorchamps a foot ahead of his grid slot without anybody noticing it there and then.
The issue had been highlighted by some amateur video that floated on the internet showing the racer start his race from a spot on the grid which was ahead of where he should have been.
The wrong placement of the driver at grid is actually a very severe act of violating FIA’s regulations still the issue is not being taken that sternly, owing to the fact that neither the FIA race director, Charlie Whiting received any information nor the race marshals at the track spotted any such misdeed from the driver, on the race day.
All grids have very advanced electronic systems which detect the standing of each of the cars. This system is thought to be very sensitive and efficient such that even a very minor shift in placement is supposed to be detected by it. Normally if a car is placed wrong it gives immediate information and as per the rules a jump start penalty is imposed to the driver right away.
However, it was very surprising that the electronic system failed to show anything as such on the track.
Well, another surprising thing is that none of the rival teams pointed out this error though many of the news channels spotted and proclaimed this right at the initial few seconds of the race.
Since no complaints were received by FIA therefore only the formal investigations are announced to be carried however the race results would not be altered as the Belgian GP official results have been already finalised.
Well, though Ferrari takes a sigh of relief for not being penalised still FIA has vowed to undergo complete investigation to see if somebody was intentionally behind this act or was it just a coincidence.
"The problem was brought to the attention of the FIA race director by neither the marshals nor the automatic jump start system in time to be able to apply the appropriate penalty for jump starts," the FIA spokeswoman, Maureen Sorbet told reporters during a press conference.
"As no further information or complaints were received before the publication of the official result on Sunday night, the classification of the Belgian Grand Prix will now remain unchanged,” she further commented.
Moreover, she concluded saying, "The FIA are investigating the causes of the apparent failures in communication with race control in order to ensure a repetition is not possible."
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