Sunday, May 25, 2008

Mallya's Force India to ask for Raikkonen's ban after Sutil incident


Force India's Adrian Sutil and the team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne were summoned to the Monaco Grand Prix stewards after the German lost a potential fourth place following an accident with Kimi Raikkonen.

After an inspired performance the Force India driver was set for an improbable fourth-place finish when he was hit from behind by an out-of-control Kimi Raikkonen with just 10 minutes remaining.

Sutil was on course to finish a career-best fourth when, shortly after the second re-start of the race following the deployment of the Safety Car, he was hit from behind by Raikkonen as the Finn lost control exiting the tunnel. As luck - well, bad luck - would have it, the Ferrari driver was able to continue, but the damage to the Force India was terminal. Sutil, close to tears, was beyond consolation.

The latter was fending off the Ferrari at the restart when disaster struck as the pair exited the tunnel and braked for the chicane.

Raikkonen lost control of his F2008, crashing heavily into the back of Sutil, resulting in both drivers heading to the pits for repairs.

But, while Raikkonen was able to head back out with a new nosecone, Sutil's car.

"The frustration is that if that had been a Force India driver hitting a world champion we would expect to get a one or two race ban, but when it is the other way around it is disappointing that the stewards... well you know I hope they look at it and act accordingly," said Gascoyne.

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