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Webber’s free ride costs him 10 places

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

Following his frustrating final lap retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix, Mark Webber hitched a ride back to pitlane on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari. At times he looked a little precarious on the F138’s sidepod and it was a sight race stewards were not too happy with.

Officially both Webber and Alonso were reprimanded for the incident, but as this was Mark’s third official talking to for the year he will have a 10-place grid penalty kicks for the next race, the Korean Grand Prix.

Mark was actually charged with entering the track on foot without permission from marshals. Pedantic, or a good reminder in track safety for Mark? Video of the incident, available here, shows it was probably the latter.

[Source: Formula1.com | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

UPDATE: Video and a few relevant tweets from F1 journos added below.

UPDATE #2: CCTV from the Marina Bay circuit showing Mark running onto the track can be viewed after the break.

17 replies on “Webber’s free ride costs him 10 places”

A bit pedantic don’t you think? It made some of the coolest pics from last night and showed that friendship still exist between drivers. No harm done!

deserved the reprimand I think when you see the footage on blick : http://t.co/QAFqLaZpQb

Where were the yellow flags/lights though? Things like that is why I disagree with the marshalls all going out on track waving all the different flags like used to happen at some tracks.

A link to the footage via Blick was already in the final paragraph Micky. And, yeah, it does look a bit dodgy when Mark runs out on track to attract Alonso’s attention.

I’ve just added a couple of YouTube clips as well.

I am glad to see that camaraderie is still in F1, however I do not think it was the safest course of action.

Sorry Scott.

A reprimand is just an official telling off. That was Alonso’s first for the year.

However, it was Webber’s third reprimand for the year which means as a result he incurs a 10-spot grid penalty. If Mark only had one previous reprimand (or none) then he would have received no penalty.

@Scott
Reprimand = warning, so no further penalty for Alonso. Webber’s penalty was because he has had 3 reprimands.

When I first heard about the penalty, I thought it was a bit pedantic but after reading that it was actually for running on the track (and not the ride) and seeing the footage, I agree with it (the penalty). Also the onboard view showed Alonso hitting 100 Km/h with Webber on board, not the seemingly sedate pace we see on TV.

So – instead of dropping a bunch of spots when the flag drops in Korea, this way he starts at P10 and it will be safer for everyone!

BTW – they should get more than a reprimand. That was bloody dangerous. F1 as a ‘role model’ for motorsport events can’t allow this sort of thing to appear to be condoned.

Bloody dangerous, both drivers should have been rubbed out for one race with the teams not allowed to draft in replacements.

@MickyD – there is no need for yellow flags/lights. It is automatically a full course yellow from the finish line onwards, including a ban on overtaking.

Bunch of Nanny state folk here today. The best drivers in the world are more than capable of achieving such a feat. All the naysayers are just part of the reason we have such stupid rules in sport and life.

was a stupid move on mark’s behalf. good publicity as well as bad for him.
obviously he don’t care anymore since he’s leaving at the end of the season.
he is over it, and the smiling face of christian horner at the end said it all.
all support for mark has gone.

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