Toro Rosso appeals penalty of Liuzzi

Whoever came up with the expression, “things can only get better” definitely did not have Scuderia Toro Rosso in mind, in the hours following Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway. After Sebastian Vettel crashed out of the race when he looked set to finish on the podium, the team thought it could take some consolation from the fact that Tonio Liuzzi had finished eighth, thus scoring our first point of the season.

However, the Stewards of the Meeting imposed a 25 second penalty on Tonio for allegedly overtaking under yellow flags and this meant he was no longer eighth and so the point was taken away. The team has lodged an Appeal against this decision. On top of that, Sebastian will take a ten place drop on the grid for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix as punishment for his accident with Mark Webber when running in Safety Car conditions.

In our case, it seems that what we thought was the light at the end of the tunnel was actually an oncoming train!