Ferrari call for more “inflexible” rules after huge first lap incident

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has called for more stringent rules and regulations regarding dangerous driving in the lower Formulae in motor sport, after Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was taken out after a violent incident at turn 1. Romain Grosjean has since been banned for one race, for causing multi-car incident.

Only 290 meters into the race, and Fernando Alonso was collected by Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton after a heavy incident as the field negotiated the La Source hairpin. The Spaniard was understandably shaken after the incident, and didn’t immediately jump out of his car. The incident immediately brought out the safety car, as the marshals quickly set to clearing the stricken cars.

Luckily, all drivers were unscathed after the melee, however Romain Grosjean has since incurred the wrath of the race stewards and has been issued a one race ban for the Italian Grand Prix. Although Alonso has remained in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, Stefano Domenicali believes it’s imperative that such dangerous driving is quelled in the lower categories such as GP2, GP3 and World Series by Renault.

“First, the good news: Fernando is fine.” Explained Stefano Domenicali after the race, “All of us and I think also all Ferrari fans went through a heart-stopping moment after the accident, especially as we could not communicate with him. Only when we saw him emerge from the cockpit could we let out a first sigh of relief and then we began to breathe normally when we saw him make it back to the garage. As for the accident, I can only say that the judgement falls to the FIA: what is certain is that, it would be better if, starting with the junior formulae, rules relating to on-track behavior were enforced in an inflexible manner, so as to have drivers as well prepared as possible when they reach this, the highest level of motor sport.”

Felipe Massa scored Ferrari’s only points of the race, as the Brazilian driver came home a competitive 5th for the team. This was a hugely important result for Massa, who is still possibly set to leave Ferrari at the end of the season. The Scuderia will undoubtedly be hoping for a more successful home Grand Prix, as they prepare to race in front of the Tifosi faithful.

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