When the news broke after the race here in the Media Center an hour or so ago that the result of the stewards investigation into the incident after Lap 50 involving Massa and Sebastien Bourdais resulted in a penalty against Bourdais, there was general disbelief similar to that seen in Belgium when Lewis Hamilton was demoted to third and Massa was promoted to victory. One journalist even went so far as to go and ask FIA officials, genuinely, if there had been a mix-up with the names and that it was Massa who received the penalty.

What everyone I spoke to, or read, agreed upon was that when Bourdais returned to the track after his pit stop and he was cut off in the first corner by Massa, the two collided and Massa spun, it was generally considered that the error was Massa\'s. It was clear to me. It was clear to the commentators on the BBC Radio 5, Maurice Hamilton and David Croft. In fact, I was listening to them on Kangaroo TV and never once did they suggest that the fault was Bourdais\' - quite the opposite, in fact. On the written commentary that accompanies the live timing on the Formula1.com web site, the person wrote: Bourdais had just exited the pit lane - did Massa not see him? The man who went to the FIA to ask if there was a mistake came to me and asked if he was the only one who thought the FIA must have made an error. I could see such conversations happening all around me.

Through further investigation, it seems that the race stewards are arguing that upon his exit from the pit lane, Bourdais was presented with flashing blue lights that were to tell him that a fast car was on its way. But as Bourdais pointed out, he and Massa were actually racing for position. So the question is, are drivers supposed to slow down to a stop to let their competitors pass? We see races decided on such pit-lane exits all the time - Raikkonen today failed by the smallest of margins to get out ahead of Kubica after his pit stop.

It is unfortunate that in such a tightly disputed and exciting championship Felipe Massa has now had a seven-point advantage gifted to him through two such incidents. Each time, the driver ahead of him was given a drive-through penalty that was applied after the race in the form of a 25-second addition of time to his race time. In the previous case, it handed victory to Massa and knocked Hamilton to third - resulting in a gain of two points for Massa and a loss of four points to Hamilton. This time, Massa finished the race in eighth, but the penalty against Bourdais knocked the Frenchman back to 10th place, and Massa up one spot to give him another point.