Liuzzi Loses Appeal to Keep Fuji Point

Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi, who came in 8th place during the Japanese Grand Prix two weekends ago, failed in the appeal against the point stripped from him after he was found guilty of overtaking Spyker's Adrian Sutil under yellow flags.

The FIA stuck by their decision to penalise the Toro Rosso team, which would have scored their first point finish during the Japanese Grand Prix if not for the 25-second penalty handed out to Liuzzi, and awarded the single point to Spyker's Adrian Sutil. A week later, in the Chinese Grand Prix, Toro Rosso showed that they might be a force to reckon with in 2008 with a strong 4th place finish by rookie Sebastian Vettel and a 6th place by Liuzzi.

FIA to Investigate Lewis Hamilton

Yet another post-race activity set the F1 world in a frenzy again.

A video taken by a spectator from the grand stand,showed the current championship leader Lewis Hamilton slowed his car down dramatically behind the safety car, which in turn led to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel pulling up beside him, before the Red Bull and the Toro Rosso drivers collided, resulting in the end of the race for both of them.

Sebastian Vettel was later deemed guilty by the race stewards and will be punished with a 10 place penalty in the upcoming Shanghai Grand Prix this weekend.

Franz Tost, the Toro Rosso team principal, alerted the FIA to the footage in a bid to appeal against Sebastian Vettel's penalty. The incident was not caught on official race footage, but this video could prove to be a key evidence for the incident.

Hamilton was slammed by Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, as well as several other drivers down the field such as Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. The lead car was supposed to keep within 5 car lengths from the safety car, but Hamilton, on several occasions, had been braking the car to almost a standstill, resulting in those behind him to bunch up, before zooming off again.

If found guilty, Hamilton could either find his 10 points earned deducted, or be demoted 10 grids for the Chinese Grand Prix, and both are not going to be beneficial in his bid to become the youngest world champion by this weekend.

Post Japanese GP: Mix Ups, Penalties and More

After a weird pit-stop call for both Ferraris at the beginning of the race, all came to light during the press conference when an unhappy Kimi Raikkonen said that both him and Massa were told to come into the pits to have their tires changed. It turned out that FIA's email to the teams telling them to start on extra wet tires for the race did not manage to land in the Ferrari mailbox until late.

As a result, both Ferraris, which started on intermediate tires as they had set the car up for a dry race. Unfortunately, this resulted in a compulsory pitstop for both of them, which might have cost Kimi Raikkonen his Drivers' Championship chances.

Sebastian Vettel was ruled as the guilty party in the collision with Mark Webber, and as a result, he is hit with a 10 place penalty which will be carried over to the Shanghai Grand Prix next weekend.

His teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who scored his first point of this season for himself and Toro Rosso, was unable to enjoy his solitary point for more than 5 hours after he was found guilty of overtaking under yellow flag. Adrian Sutil, in a very much improved Spyker, would be more than happy to score the first point for his team and himself after finishing in the 9th place initially, but would now move up one position in place of Vitantonio.