NEW GEAR MEANS MORE CRASHS - China Daily on Malaysia Grand Prix

Your columnist was the studio guest for ESPN Star TV's broadcast of the Malaysia Grand Prix (as it was called). While Sebastian Vettel strolled to his 12th career victory, the show's producer Sanjeev Palar asked if I wanted to add anything to the commentary. Like Jean Todt — the president of motor sport's governing body, the FIA — Sanjeev understands the advantages of a driver's perspective.

One of Todt's initiatives was to add, to the panel which adjudicates at a Grand Prix, an experienced international driver. Over the course of last year's incident packed season there were no controversial punishments handed out — and the competition was better for it.

This did not always come easily. Naturally those given authority tend to exercise it. The driver had sometimes to convince the other stewards no rule had been broken — or explain mitigating circumstances not obvious to his colleagues. On occasion it was simply that in racing cars do crash into each other — and no one needs further penalty.

The driver steward in Malaysia was former Grand Prix driver and five-time winner of the Le Mans 24-hours, Emanuelle Pirro — so the decision to add 20 seconds to the finishing times of both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton came as a shock.

Alonso's crime was hitting the back of Hamilton's McLaren which attempting to overtake with 10 laps of the Sepang circuit left to run. The Spaniard will have been frustrated that his moveable rear wing (newly introduced this year to aid overtaking) was not working.

This might have contributed to his error. As it was, Hamilton continued without delay while his adversary visited the Ferrari pit for a new front wing. One would think this was punishment enough for the double world champion (who had been looking like a podium finisher) and, indeed, the 20 seconds added did not affect his sixth place finish.

Meanwhile Hamilton was accused of "having made more than one change of direction to defend a position" on the lap before the incident with Alonso. The Briton was in trouble with another new aid to overtaking: Pirelli tyres designed to wear quickly and lose grip suddenly. Having started second Hamilton will be more disappointed not to have been challenging for a win than by the drop from seventh to eighth that resulted from the penalty. Nonetheless it has sparked some controversy.

While Hamilton's defending was robust there was nothing visible on the television coverage which required intervention from the authorities. The likelihood therefore is that Pirro and his colleagues saw more than was apparent to viewers. The other conclusion is that this year's new "overtaking tools" (KERS, moveable wings, tyre grip which "falls off a cliff") will lead to more incidents and an increasing need for consistent and fair decisions from upstairs.

After a successful career on the track, Matthew Marsh now works at JMI - the world's leading motor sport marketing company. He can be reached at: mmarsh@justmarketing.com