On lap 13 of the USA GP, Takuma Sato spun out of the race. Not a good result – but these things happen when you are pushing in a race. But insult was added to injury when the officials announced that he would be facing a ten-place penalty on the grid of the French GP for overtaking under a yellow flag condition on lap 2.

The penalty was imposed after the under-track loop at turn 1 showed Jenson Button’s car was slightly ahead (Button having begun an overtaking manoeuvre just before the yellow flags) but Takuma took the lead at turns two and three.

In an article on his fan site, Takuma Sato said:

"We are not happy with the decision," he said, "I knew about the incident and yellow flag at turn one, it was so obvious. On the straight, I knew Jenson was immediately behind and had got my tow. I thought he didn't realise there was a yellow flag. He tried to overtake and we were side-by-side but, going into turn one, he hesitated and braked earlier. I thought he was quitting the manoeuvre and that's why I held my position.

"Where the yellow flag is shown, just before turn one, it's much too late because it was only 50 metres before the incident. We were absolutely side-by-side, in terms of positioning it looks we were identical on the TV footage, but there was a loop there which shows that Jenson was ahead. The outcome is it looks like I was overtaking him - from the scientific point of view - but of course the penalty is really harsh."

We have waited until now to publish this story, because we thought there might be an appeal or more information made known to us.

You can read more about how the fans feel about this decision within the forum pages, and add your view too.