Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella has been penalised after unlapping himself under the safety car when he was not permitted to do so during Sunday’s German Grand Prix. Fisichella had 25 seconds added to his final race time and drops from 14th to 16th in the classification as a result.
The 25-second penalty places him behind Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and fellow Force India driver Adrian Sutil.
“In the first part of the race I was not comfortable with the car as I was struggling with the grip and it was understeering and oversteering with some wheelspin, but then at the end of the run it was getting better,” Fisichella reflected prior to the penalty being handed down. “On the soft tyre it was a step forward. The team made a good move for me with the strategy under the safety car and I could make up some places after I pitted and the others went in.
“I could have finished perhaps one place higher up, but unfortunately I locked up through turn eight and lost a position, but all the same it’s nice to get a finish and to be racing again.”
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