Toro Rosso: Fuji point appeal lost 

Written by David on October 14th, 2007 at 11:04 amLast Update: October 14th, 2007 at 11:04 am

Vitantonio Liuzzi ex Toro RossoAt the conclusion of the rainy Japanese Grand Prix, Tonio Liuzzi had reached 8th place and secured one championship point for himself and the Scuderia Toro Rosso. The race stewards had decided afterwards to impose a 25 seconds penalty on Liuzzi’s total race time after it appeared that he had overtaken Spyker’s Adrian Sutil under yellow flag conditions, a situation were passing is not allowed.


That decision dropped Liuzzi down to 9th place, out of the points zone, and moved Sutil up to eighth, therefore giving the point to the Spyker team. At the time, neither Toro Rosso nor Spyker had recored a championship point and it was not surprising to learn shortly after the publication of the sanction that Toro Rosso intended to appeal the decision and recuperate not only the precious point but the benefits that come with it, claiming that the yellow flag conditions were not evident.

After meeting in Paris this Friday, the FIA International Court of Appeal has today announced the following: “Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the Court confirmed the decision of the Panel of the Stewards of the Meeting.”

The Spyker team may therefore retain its single championship point won so far. Toro Rosso, meanwhile, marked a surprising 8 points during the following race in China when Sebastian Vettel and Tonio Liuzzi completed the race in 4th and 6th positions respectively.

After the verdict was announced, Scuderia Toro Rosso Team Principal Franz Tost said: “Obviously we are disappointed, but we accept the decision of the court. Now, all our attention is fixed on next weekend’s final round of the season in Brazil, where we hope to build on the good form the team has shown in recent races and try and win some more points on the track.”

source: capsis

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