Warwick felt that part of the reason fans were so irate was that they did not
see the actual moment when Webber ran out onto the track, or the fact that
both the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had to swerve to
avoid Alonso’s stationary Ferrari. Hamilton later said that he had been
“really shocked” to find the Ferrari in his path and added that he
might have run Webber over in his attempt to avoid a collision.
Warwick also pointed out that stewards hands were to a certain extent tied
with regard to the choice of penalty. It is understood that the drivers
themselves voted earlier this season for reprimands rather than fines in
such cases.
“We had no other tools in our box other than to forget it, and we didn’t
think we could just ignore it,” Warwick said. “The really unfortunate
thing was that Mark incurred a 10-place grid penalty for Korea but we had to
judge this case in isolation. We didn’t look at his two previous reprimands
when we took our decision.”
The FIA is now likely to advise drivers not to stop to pick each other up in
such circumstances, which is certain to annoy fans of the sport who have
enjoyed such moments down the years.
Hamilton was one of many to recall Ayrton Senna’s ride on the sidepod of Nigel
Mansell’s Williams at Silverstone in 1991, which created one of the sport’s
most iconic images.
“It’s good for the fans to see and, as long as it’s done in a safe manner
– you don’t stop on the racing line – then maybe it should be allowed for
the future,” Hamilton said.
“In sport, it’s cool. Remember Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna [at Silverstone
in 1991]? There have been times where I’ve driven past someone else who has
stopped and I’d wished I’d stopped.”
Michael Schumacher made the same gesture to Jean Alesi at the end of the
Canadian Grand Prix in 1995, after the French driver, who had just won his
first race, ran out of fuel.