Toro Presso – Barrichello Disqualified From Australian GP

Rubens Barrichello has been disqualified from today’s race after leaving the pit lane under a red light.

The safety car was brought out three times, and during the third outing, Rubens made a pit stop. Initially, Honda put fuel into the car, which resulted in a ten-second penalty given to Rubens, as re-fuelling initially under the safety car is not allowed. However, upon leaving the pits, Rubens ran a red light. The red light indicated that the pit lane was closed, because the safety car had just left to go on circuit.

Running a red light results in an instant disqualification, as Fisichella and Massa found out in Canada last year. Rubens has had his first points since 2006 taken away from him, and Nakajima, Bourdais and Raikkonen have been promoted to 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. It means that despite not finishing all 58 laps, Bourdais and Raikkonen still score some Championship points. The revised points table for the race looks like this:

L Hamilton – 10 pts
N Heidfeld – 8
N Rosberg – 6
F Alonso – 5
H Kovalainen – 4
K Nakajima – 3
S Bourdais – 2
K Raikkonen – 1

Rubens said after the race that he didn’t see the red lights… these are the “best drivers in the world”, no? Surely they know where a red light is and how to stop for it. Rules are rules I’m afraid, Rubens.