Irvine agrees with need for consistency

Recently Juan Pablo Montoya said there needed to be consistency in the giving out of penalties for on track incidents and Eddie Irvine agrees with the Williams driver. In the Malaysian Grand Prix Montoya and Michael Schumacher clashed at the first corner and the Colombian was given a drive-through penalty in a move that many thought was unjustified. After a very similar incident in Brazil no punishment was given out and Montoya was angry as he believed Schumacher was to blame.

Irvine says there is nothing wrong with giving out penalties but there has been a lack of consistency in the way they have been awarded. "I have never had a problem with giving careless drivers a ticking off as long as the punishments are consistent," he said. "In Australia I felt Rubens Barrichello got away with causing the first corner pile-up while Juan was handed a drive-through penalty for colliding with Michael. I've watched videos of both incidents. In my opinion Rubens was to blame in Melbourne while in Malaysia it was just about a racing accident. It doesn't add up."

Irvine himself had an incident with Minardi's Alex Yoong in Malaysia in which he thought Yoong was to blame and should have been penalised for cutting across in front. The stewards took no action and the Irishman wonders if the same decision would have been taken if it was reigning champion Schumacher who had been on the receiving end of the Minardi's move.

"And let's not forget the way that Alex Yoong sliced his Minardi in front of me as I was lapping him on the Sepang circuit," Irvine commented. "Blue flags were being waved to show him I was coming by and there were black rubber marks on the tarmac to show the exact racing line. Those marks didn't come from outer space but Yoong was two car lengths past them when he turned in on me while I was running ninth. As it happens I wouldn't have scored any points because a mechanical problem not related to the clash put me out of action a few laps later. But stewards took no action against Yoong. Would the reaction have been the same had he done it to Michael? Again it comes down to consistency."