Button in trouble after weight-loss run
Monte Carlo, Sunday: Jenson Button could be excluded from the results of the Monaco Grand Prix after the race stewards found that he was underweight at the post-race weigh-in. Button led the race from pole and dominated to take his fifth win of the season, but that result now hangs in the balance as Brawn GP attempt to convince race officials that the weight was only shed after Button had parked his car.
Underweight: Monaco winner - for now - Jenson Button
Unused to finishing on the podium at Monaco, the British driver mistakenly parked in the pit lane after the race had finished. Monaco tradition dictates that the top three drivers park their cars on the start-finish straight, near the Royal Box where the podium procedure takes place.
Button’s error meant that he had to run from the pit lane to the podium, and it was this unexpected strenuous exercise that led to him shedding a few crucial kilograms that meant that the weight of himself and his car did not add up to the required 605 kg.
“Jenson’s car was perfectly legal throughout the race, but unfortunately his own body weight dropped below the critical threshold while he was running towards the podium,” the team’s Chief Scapegoat Nick Fry told reporters after the race. “The FIA seem to believe that Jenson should have run slower, in order to burn fewer calories, but we were trying to get on with the podium celebrations so as to avoid a fine for disrupting proceedings. Really, there was nothing we could do.”
It is understood that a decision on the infringement, which may be overlooked due to the unusual extenuating circumstances, is not expected for some days, in order to keep with the FIA’s specified intention of suddenly and arbitrarily altering the results of an F1 race for at least a week after the race has finished.
