25/07/2010
NEWS STORY
The Force India team has been reprimanded for a mistake early in today's race when its two drivers were given tyres designated for the other.
Tonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil were forced to pit after colliding on the opening lap of the race. However, in the subsequent confusion, Sutil was fitted with one of Liuzzi's super-soft tyres along with three hards of his own, while the Italian returned to the race with three super-softs and one hard.
The race stewards subsequently determined a breach of Article 25.4 of the 2010 Formula Sporting Regulations and handed the Silverstone based outfit a reprimand.
"It was a case of cause-and-effect, one bad thing led to another," said Otmar Szafnauer, the team's chief operating officer. "We had some issues in practice, which meant qualifying was not ideal, and in trying to be aggressive at the start we had a coming together, which in turn led to the confusion in the stops."