AUGUST 20, 2005

Sato goes to the back of the grid

Takuma Sato has been dumped to the back of the grid for getting in the way of Mark Webber in qualifying on Saturday in Istanbul. The BAR-Honda driver imposed the penalty after Sato cost the Australian around three-tenths of a second. Sato could not be warned by the BAR team because he was on the radio at the moment when the team was trying to warn him, which was a period of around 25secs, just as Webber was closing in on him.

The FIA stewards decided that Sato "illegitimately impeded" Webber and cancelled his qualifying time, for breaching Article 114 of the F1 Sporting Regulations.

The stewards also considered a similar case between Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella, and ruled that Barrichello did not maintain sufficient distance ahead of Fisichella but the Ferrari driver was only given a warning.