Should or shouldn't Massa be penalized for the pit lane incident at Valencia yesterday?

Question

Why or why not.

Answer 1

it was not massa's fault as an whole but the fault was of the ferrari pit crew(or the lolly pop man)...and surely and firmly i would say it wasnt Adrian Sutils Fault... AS:-

1.sutil was driving on the pit lane speed limit

2.pilane is not as wide that you may move to left to accomodate mr.Massa

3.Massa is no god or god father of sutil to be precise, that he may stop his car to let massa in

4.according to the pitlane rule only if an car is more than 20mts(approx) behind the garage of a particular team the car pitting may exit the garage....and in case of massa...when he was exited,sutil's Force India was just 5mts(approx) behind him and hence as he entered the pitlane aftr exiting the garage he was wheel to wheel with sutil....

5.sutil may be a back marker and a lapped car at that point of time but lapped cars are not allowed to overtake on the track but can go ahead wen the frontender is in the pits and unlap himself,thats what sutil was doing and legally he didnt expect that massa would exit the pits in such a way!!!!

(one question is in my mind why wasnt Sebastein Vettel penalised dangerous driving in the pits wen he came wheel to wheel with fernando alonso at(i think) hockenheim???)

Answer 2

Massa had no fault.

if there was any fault it was of the Lollypop man who let him go at such time.

moreover the crew member are always in pressure and it can happen.

Answer 3

Never,there was no problem and nobody gained,why o why all this rubbish,if the same had occurred with Mr.wonderful we would have seen all the loonies saying it was a minor incident and should never been shown on tv.but if a penalty had been applied Mr. wonderful would have won and no more would have been said,  by the way Ferrari don't use lollipops they use a new system and its not really perfected yet but will be soon and all the sheep will follow.

Answer 4

Actually, its the team that will be penalized for letting him out in Sutil's path. Its a safety hazard and they do deserve a penalty. And although I dislike Massa, I'm a huge fan of Ferrari (Schumi too) and wouldn't say this like McLaren Highlander would, if he's still around.

Answer 5

IMO no he shouldn't. I have seen worse with no penalties. on the other hand I feel Ferrari should be penalised as a team because it could have been much worse. they don't use a lollipop man to release the cars, just a system of green lights. each member of the crew press a button when they have finished their bit, but as there is no lollipop man there are no buttons to be pushed to say it is safe to exit their pit. Also if there had been a lollipop man then Kimi wouldn't have ran over his fuel man. He did take responsibility for that, admitting that he pulled off too soon before the green light showed, but it wouldn't have happened if he had a bloke stood in front of him with a lollipop on his car!!!

Answer 6

No, it was Sutil being stupid. He would have had to let Massa by again straight away anyway.

Answer 7

no, he shouldn't because nothing happend!!!

Answer 8

i say no, simply because he pulled over and gave him the lane, had one or both wrecked then i would say yes penalize him and the team, but kinda hard to call a foul with no harm

Answer 9

No, no harm no foul. They were just at the same place at the same time and I think it showed rather intelligent action that MAssa backed off.  

Answer 10

No, Felipe Massa should not be penalized for that pit-lane incident for the following reasons

1. What happened was not Massa's fault or Sutil's. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it should be considered a racing incident.

2. Neither driver or car was affected by the incident and both cars left the pit-lane without further incident or problem other than a startled Felipe Massa.

3. The formula 1 drivers championship is now very tight and if a penalty was imposed on Felipe Massa this would be in very poor taste and would be unfairly handing the championship to Hamilton.

4. Massa's already had glory robbed from him for something completely out of his control in Hungary with that engine blowout 3 laps from the finish line and to be robbed of glory again for something not his fault would really do havoc to his psyche. I know I would collapse into depression in Massa's situation if a penalty was imposed.

5. Massa worked hard and quite fairly deserved this victory as in the words of Steve Slater, Star Sports commentator said "He is driving with millimetre precision with every lap."

So it would not be very sporting on the part of FIA if a penalty was imposed on Massa.

PS: Just because I'm a Massa fan doesn't mean I'm being biased with this answer.