Formula 1
Engine woes for Massa and Coulthard
It's only the second race in Malaysia this weekend but some drivers are already going to be subject to the ten place grid demotion penalty for engine changes. Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's David Coulthard, who both finished in Bahrain, will ...
Published: Mar 21, 2006, 5:31 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
It's only the second race in Malaysia this weekend but some drivers are already going to be subject to the ten place grid demotion penalty for engine changes. Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's David Coulthard, who both finished in Bahrain, will have new units at Sepang.
Felipe Massa.
Photo by xpb.cc.
Ferrari is reportedly concerned that Massa's engine will not stay the race distance and has opted to replace it as a precautionary measure despite incurring the penalty. The Brazilian doesn't believe that a fresh engine for this tough event compensates for losing grid places.
"I've never met a racing driver yet who wouldn't want to be as high up the grid as possible, old engine or not," he said. "Anyway, with all the changes to engine rules for this year, I don't think I'll be the only guy with an engine change penalty by the time the race starts on Sunday."
Coulthard's Ferrari-powered Red Bull gave up after he had taken the chequered flag in Bahrain. The rules state that "Any driver who failed to finish the race at the first of the two Events for reasons beyond the control of the team or driver, may start the second with a different engine without a penalty being incurred." Coulthard did actually finish before the engine failed.
"Clearly there was a drop-off in performance from the engine in the last few laps and it would have been nice to have known that and stopped the car before the chequered flag, which meant I wouldn't have got the penalty here in terms of the ten places, but because I crossed the line, tenth place, no points, I get a penalty," the Scot commented.
Juan Pablo Montoya, who complained in Bahrain that his Mercedes engine was down on power, is apparently still not happy with it. McLaren said the engines were fine and have not confirmed the rumour that Montoya may also have a change and get the penalty.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Malaysian GP: Ferrari preview
Next article Malaysian GP: Thursday press conference
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Juan Pablo Montoya
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
IndyCar
IndyCar
Team Penske and Chevrolet announce multi-year extension of IndyCar partnership
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Formula 1
Formula 1
Azerbaijan GP
Juan Pablo Montoya admires Franco Colapinto's "aggressive" approach despite Baku crash
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
Williams tipped for "huge step" forward at Azerbaijan GP with major upgrade
More from
Ferrari
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Latest news
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 1 h
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 3 h
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
4 h
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe