Rio de Janeiro: McLaren were fined USD 50,000 for a Brazilian Grand Prix incident that sprayed fuel over Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and triggered a flash fire in the pit lane.
Their Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen was also handed a 25- second penalty, to be added retrospectively to his race time, for an unsafe release in which he trailed the fuel hose behind his car.
Raikkonen, following close behind, had his visor sprayed with vapour which ignited in a fiery ball as it hit the hot exhaust.
The stewards also fined Italian Jarno Trulli USD 10,000 and reprimanded the Toyota driver for aggressively confronting Force India's German Adrian Sutil by the side of the track after they collided and crashed out on the opening lap.
They concluded that the collision itself was a racing incident with no further action required.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, October 19, 2009, 11:22