An FIA email informing Ferrari of a late tyre-rule change arrived seven minutes too late, a team spokesman said on Sunday.

After Kimi Raikkonen's comments following the race, Luca Colajanni confirmed that the Maranello based team was not aware until 1.37pm - seven minutes after the race began behind the safety car - that it had not been allowed to fit intermediate tyres.

"Now there's nothing we can do," he said, after the damaging pit stops had to be organised to change to extreme wet tyres.

Raikkonen's race engineer Chris Dyer reportedly used even harsher language in a post-race television interview.

Apparently, the Australian said FIA race control 'f***ed our race' before he was stopped by a Ferrari PR representative.

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

Kimi Raikkonen on Sunday blamed the FIA for not informing Ferrari of a last minute rule change.

The Maranello-based team had to pull into the pits early in the Japanese Grand Prix after trying to start the race behind the safety car on intermediate tyres.

Third placed Raikkonen, now a distant 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the world championship with two races to go, later told reporters at Fuji Speedway that Charlie Whiting and FIA race control failed to tell Ferrari that it had to start on extreme wet tyres.

"They forgot to tell our team," the Finn claimed. "That forced us to pit behind the safety car.

Although no other team wrongly started the race on intermediates, Renault's Pat Symonds confirmed that Whiting only publicised the rule change just over an hour before the race.

"It's a little bit surprising, I guess," he told the British broadcaster ITV.

Source GMM
CAPSIS International

imagine hamilton smiling in the race and then the car stop...

Err, what's pencuri car?

I understand Massa's dissappointment.

If only Massa won the GP and Kimi 2nd but still won the title.
Than Massa would have some smile on his face