Valentino Rossi stripped of British GP victory

[FourWheelDrift]

Max Biaggi was handed victory at the British Grand Prix when Valentino Rossi was dramatically given a penalty over three hours after the race ended.
World champion Rossi celebrated what he thought was a victory on the podium before race officials realised he had overtaken Carlos Checa under a yellow flag at the start of lap two.

The yellow flag was raised following a crash involving Tohru Ukawa.

An investigation was held and Rossi later penalised 10 seconds, moving Sete Gibernau into second place ahead of the Italian.

The two Ducatis of Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss were fourth and fifth respectively.

MotoGP results:

1. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda - 46 minutes and 06.688
2. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda - 46:13.826
3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda - 46:15.482*
4. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati - 46:19.729
5. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati - 46:22.967
6. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha - 46:33.773
7. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia - 46:34.350
8. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda - 46:38.700
9. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha - 46:41.487
10. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia - 46:41.689
*Rossi handed 10-second penalty

World championship standings:

1. Rossi - 167 points
2. Gibernau - 133
3. Biaggi - 130
4. Capirossi - 84
5. Bayliss - 64

>>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Sunday 13th July 22:52

[tuffer]

Thats a little harsh, he was on fire for the first 4 or 5 laps going from 7th to 2nd in 2 laps. Rules are rules but I doubt he had much time to notice some half-arsed flag waving.

[d_drinks]

Isn't there a rule that says all penalties must be issued with a certain time period of the offence? 3hrs post race is a huge amount of time to elapse before advising of the penalty not good at all

[Venom]

The yellows were being waved at the end of the first straight when Rossi overtook Capirossi.

Fair enough I suppose, but it seems a touch harsh given that they were in the breaking area for one of the fastest points on the race track, Rossi was already on the inside, lining up the move by the time he'd have a chance of seeing the flags, and even then probably had his view obscured by the other riders on his inside.

I know rules are rules, but surely common sense should also prevail, the move was completed with plenty of room to spare and all of the above should have been taken into account.

That said Rossi took it like a true sport and accepted the punishment. Can't imagine Herr Schumacher doing the same without a fight first.

[anonymous-user]

if there is any justice in the world, he deserves the race victory purely for that powerslide round goddards on the last lap!!!

[agent006]

I think there's a certain element of being made an example of here. More and more drivers are ignoring yellow flags. They mean slow down and prepare to stop, not just don't overtake.

Since i've recently started marshalling i've come to realise how important obeying yellow flags is. It's bad enough having to go trackside for something without having the race hooning past at full pelt too.

Saying he didn't see it is no excuse, that's why green flags are shown on the formation lap, so riders can see where the flag posts are.

The delay could be down to the oberver on the post deciding that it wasn't important enough to radio to race control and put it in the race report insead. Then race control read the report and took action after the race.

[kevinday]

agent006 said:

The delay could be down to the oberver on the post deciding that it wasn't important enough to radio to race control and put it in the race report insead. Then race control read the report and took action after the race.

I agree with your points on observing and obeying yellow flags, however, if the post marshal deemed it not important enough to radio in, then surely the penalty imposed is too harsh, especially if you consider that if he had been given a stop/go or somesuch he still had a chance to make up the places in the race, rather than get in to the lead and defend it, not trying to to build up a big lead?

[Venom]

kevinday said:

I agree with your points on observing and obeying yellow flags, however, if the post marshal deemed it not important enough to radio in, then surely the penalty imposed is too harsh, especially if you consider that if he had been given a stop/go or somesuch he still had a chance to make up the places in the race, rather than get in to the lead and defend it, not trying to to build up a big lead?

Very good point. Ok so Biaggi was reeling him in at the close, but how hard was Valentino pushing? If he'd known that he was going to be hit with a time penalty then, if possible, he could have pushed harder. Instead this option was taken away from him.

As for that powerslide - awesome, typical Valentino. Had a huge grin on my face watching that one.