Massa keeps Valencia victory

Felipe Massa has been allowed to keep his European Grand Prix victory after the stewards investigated his near-collision in the pits with Adrian Sutil.

The incident occurred on lap 37 as Massa and Sutil left the pits following their second stops.

Massa was released from his pit bay into Sutil’s path as the German driver accelerated down the pit lane, but contact was averted.

The stewards deemed that although Massa was released from the pits in an unsafe manner – breaching Article 23.1 of the sporting regulations – he gained "no sporting advantage".

They therefore issued Ferrari with an official reprimand and a 10,000 euro fine.

Source - ITV F1

Any other team - especially McLaren - would've had a 'stop n go' minimum.

Taking nothing away from Ferrari and Massa - he deserved the win. But...

Anyone else feel Ferrari are exempt from the rules?

nah thats just you mate. unlucky

i dont think they are 'exempt from the rules' but i must admit he shold of served a stop and go.  and there is no point in a 10,000 fine, mclaren got was it £45,000,000 for the spy scandle, the fine should of been more.

ferrari had a bad day in the pits but it could of been worse.

Ferari seem to get away with everything while the other teams always seem to suffer the heavy hand of the FIA.  I would just for once, love to see Ferrari punished accordingly.  A stop go penalty (or adding the 10 seconds on to the end result) is the only fair outcome, especially as they did break the rules and dangerously released both of their drivers from their pit stops...

Wigster. 

I didn't think it was that big a deal, technically it probably deserved a stop and go penalty but Massa deserved the win IMO. Back when Hamilton ran into a stopped car in the pit lane, everyone laughed at him but just accepted it was a careless mistake. I thought trying to leave the pits on your orange light rather than green, almost ripping a guys arm off with your rear tyre was more dangerous

thats Ferrari for you!!!!!! does anyone know how the guy Massa(?) nearly dragged down the pit lane using the fuel line is doing, last saw him being taken away.

 i think it is a big deal

thats the second time ferrari have done this.

as i work for force india f1 im going to be biased. but if that was sutil coming from the pits and almost crashing into massa. he would have recieved a penalty instantly. its so political it really is even down to how the staff at the factorys work and how the place runs.

and the second time. (well the first time actaully) was in monaco when sutil was in 4th positon and doing so well only for kimi raikkonen to go to fast and smash sutil out of the race with only a few laps remaining. that was so gutting. we have worked so hard this year on testing and setups etc. only for ferari to knock us out.

he recieved no penalty or fine. typical. and looks like a trend is setting in. again if that was sutil crashing into kimi he would have been black flagged and penalised for it.

F1 IS NOT THE PINICAL OF MOTORPSORT ITS JUST A MOCARY!!

sorry rant over now. lol

rob

I don't want to see F

I don't want to see F1 races won or lost on technicalities and Massa deserved his win today. However had McLaren done that they would certainly have had the penalty. Ferrari do seem very much 'in bed' with the FIA and it's about time all teams were treated evenly.

This has been the way for a while in F1 but like anything were theres alot of cash flowing about theres gonna be politics that go with it you cant odds it,

and guess who has a lot of it and like to think they own F1????

Agree with rob - when Kimi took out Sutil at Monaco his driving was appaling - robbing Sutil of a well deserved 4th place. Result? - nothing - got away with it 100%. Had it been the other way round - Sutil would've got a right old kickin' from the Fookin Inept Aseholes.

Ferrari's 'win at any cost' mentality was developed under the cheating nazi barsteward. He knew no boundaries - remember when he took Damon out in the '94 Oz GP to rob him of the F1 title? His car was fooked after hitting the wall - took Damon out deliberately.

I don't want to see races - or the title decided by politics - as it was last year. Massa and his Ferrari were the better package today and deserved the win - no doubt about it. But the fact is they avioded a stonewall 10sec penalty (minimum) today - one that any other team would've got.

A 10k Euro fine and a reprimand?

 What a joke so what the FIA are saying is that its ok to be unsafe as long as you don't gain "any sporting advantage"  . without doubt if that was mclaren they would of got a drive through penalty. Not taking anything from Massa as it was a cracking drive again, but that decision is laughable

 Thats crazy about bringing monaco into this......what would you guys F1 into! Into a place that you get sued/fined for everytime that you loose control of your car and affect someone else? Its F1. So racing accidents happen. The drivers are pushing to the edge of their limits. I felt bad for sutil when he got bumped off...i really wanted him  to go all the way to the end...but thats racing..... and sometimes those things happen.

Dont take all the fun out of it by penalty this and penalty that.......RACE!

And as for ferrari getting away with things that other teams wouldnt off.....i really dont think so.

 And.........he didnt even make a place in that manouvre!

Not a Ferrari fan but I think it's a fair call.  It was dangerous move and the team should be penalised but Massa himself did nothing wrong so I reckon he deserves to keep the win.

I positively hate Ferrari but i think it was the right call. Mclaren have had some rediculous penalties thrown at them this year, like in France where heikki was given a 10 place grid penalty for absolutely nothing from what i could see... but in the final analysis Felipe was not at fault and so should not have been penalised, imo. 

Disappointingly dull race, the new track seems to follow the way of all the other new tilke designed circuits in being almost impossible to overtake on...or maybe its just the cars. ...roll on next year.

When Hamilton had a "Pit lane incident"  he got docked ten places on the starting grid for the next grand prix

Yes hamilton did crash into someone  but if the rules are for "Unsafe" release from the pit bay, then its irrelevant that massa didnt gain any sporting advantage.  It was still dangerous - harsh to penalize massa  but  that the teams  fault

It would have been harsh to punish Massa when he didn't put a foot wrong otherwise all day IMO.

Another race, another enquiry...

It'll be interesting to see the outcome of this one.

Fantastic last few laps.

An amazing race today, for sure. 

This time it was the right result - but lets see if the authorities back Ferrari again though... (Even though I don't believe Hamilton did anything wrong).

Wigster. 

i call it a racing incident. tough, move on.

 Im a Ferrari fan, and i say fair play to Hamilton! Kimi got a good start and had a good race apart from when he span it at the end....did you hear when the press conference was on that even massa even commented how kimi forced him off the road. Hamilton did the right thing in letting kimi pass him again after he was forced down the escape route. Good race............well enjoyed. Deserved 1st and 2nd................psssst massa......why didnt u go for wets with 2 laps to go!!!