Red Bull driver Mark Webber says Felipe Massa penalty could have been avoided – Formula 1 news
Red Bull driver Mark Webber believes the penalty on Felipe Massa for the crash with Lewis Hamilton during the Indian Grand Prix race is very harsh.
The Aussie driver has called on the stewards to not issue penalties unless they are absolutely sure that the driver is at fault. He feels that the crash may as well have been just an accident that was not intended purposely.
Hamilton and Massa were neck to neck during the Indian Grand Prix. Hamilton was trying to overtake Massa for some time, but was not able to, but on turn 5 during lap 24, Hamilton saw a way through and attempted to pass Massa. Massa turned his Ferrari into
the McLaren and ended up skidding into the gravel.
The stewards deemed that Massa was at fault and issued a drive-through penalty. Webber though does not agree with the stewards and has come out stating that some crashes in the sport do not have to be blamed at a driver. He says this is more like the road
car culture which does not suit Formula 1.
“You could argue all day about the rights and wrongs of the latest crash involving Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa but it was a 50-50 incident in my opinion,” Webber wrote in his BBC column.
“F1 is getting into a bit of a road-car culture with penalties,” he added. “The attitude seems to be that someone must be to blame when there is an incident. In this case, the stewards thought Felipe could have given Lewis a bit more room and therefore handed
him a drive-through penalty.”
Although Webber did concede that Massa could have made way for Hamilton, but that does not mean that it is entirely his fault, neither is Hamilton at the wrong end of it.
It will be interesting to see when Massa and Hamilton meet again in the race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, how will they take the recent turbulence in their relationship, which is getting from bad to worse with every run-in the drivers get into.
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