F1: Senna Surprised By Valencia Penalty

Formula 1

F1: Senna Surprised By Valencia Penalty

Bruno Senna was credited with a 10th-place finish in Valencia...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted June 27, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Bruno Senna salvaged a decent race in Valencia. (Photo: Getty Images)

Bruno Senna says he was surprised to be given a drive-through penalty in Valencia after being hit from behind by Kamui Kobayashi.

The FIA stewards deemed that Senna had moved across on the Japanese driver after Kimi Raikkonen had passed him on the inside and the Sauber tried to take the same route. Senna had a spectacular half spin, and suffered a rear puncture, which led to a slow run back to the pits.

“It was a little bit surprising, but we’ve seen that happening before and hopefully it won’t happen again,” Senna said. “It was one of those days.

“Kimi had a run on me, which was fair enough. After he overtook me, I ducked behind him. Kobayashi was obviously desperate to overtake me; he was on KERS, as well, because he was really coming out of the corner.

“When I was sideways in the middle of the track, I was a bit scared because I thought that people could really hit me hard. Fortunately, none of that happened. I managed to recover fast.

“There was no way he was going to overtake me there. If he had waited another five seconds, he could have overtaken me out of Turn 10, which is where he should have tried really. Considering the difference in tires, it was a no-brainer, really. Disappointing in many ways, but especially for the penalty we got. That’s racing. Hopefully, I’ll have better luck next time.”

Senna eventually finished 11th, and was gifted a point for 10th after teammate Pastor Maldonado’s penalty.

Not counting the drive through, his only stop was the one on lap 20 when he came in with his puncture.

“We were going to make a one-stop work,” Senna said. “I did one stop effectively, I just about a minute penalty in the middle, which didn’t help. But we made it work. It looked good for us. We were racing (Michael) Schumacher and (Mark) Webber, and could have finished where they finished.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.