It is always a bad sign when the main talking point after a GP is a stewards' decision, rather than the race itself. In Valencia the race was so processional that a glaring inconsistency in application of the rules was bound to hog the spotlight - F1 Fanatic's article on the matter of Massa's release into the pitlane as Sutil was approaching is running at 94 comments as I write while other posts about the race receive less than half that quantity.
Force India pit stop
As usual, Alianora has provided the clearest insight into what the rules actually say; emotions run high in many other comments and frequently the point is lost in the inevitable war of words between Ferrari and McLaren supporters. Like anyone else, I have my opinion and am driven to explain it here. Oh, you lucky readers!
It seems clear to me that the main bone of contention is not the rule itself but the inconsistency of the FIA stewards in applying penalties for it. Unlike many of F1's complex regulations, this one is a sensible and essential rule - clearly, drivers should wait to emerge into the pit lane after a pit stop until there is no danger of a collision with another car. Massa was released by his team at the exact moment that made a collision with Sutil likely and the rule was infringed upon. The stewards agreed that an offense had been committed.
There is little point in arguing over the actual infraction, therefore - the rule was broken, now what are the stewards going to do about it? And that is where the problem lies.
The first point to be made is that the stewards elected not to investigate the incident until after the race had ended. In the climate of suspicion of the FIA's partiality, this was unwise, to say the least. As has been mentioned many times, a similar offense during the Valencia GP2 race was dealt with immediately by the imposition of a drive through penalty; it is difficult not to suppose that the stewards wanted to see the result of the F1 race before deciding on the penalty, therefore.
I have written before about the undesirability of delayed penalties that affect the following race so, naturally, I am going to be in favor of offenses being penalized within a few laps of their occurrence. It should not be necessary for such decisions to be delayed unless there is real doubt regarding the incident or it occurs very late in the race. Massa's release was so obviously dangerous that I cannot see there being any question of the rule not being broken.
As Alianora has pointed out, the problem then becomes one of choosing between the four possible penalties laid down in the regulations. In fact, had the incident been dealt with promptly, there would have been only two choices, either a drive through or time penalty. Neither of these were available to the stewards when they eventually sat down to discuss the matter.
That the stewards then chose to impose a penalty that was not included among those available under the rules, underlines the fact that they were not interested in dealing with the offense in an equitable manner. The suggestion has been made that McLaren would not have been allowed to escape with a small fine had they been in the same position; that is speculation and not really relevant to the incident we are talking about, however.
Once again, I am led to the conclusion that the FIA will always favor Ferrari in controversial matters and will happily tinker with rules and regulations to keep the championship competitive. We call for consistency in application of the rules and standard punishments but, even when the rulebook is clear, it can be disregarded by the governing body. How this situation can be allowed to continue in an international sport with millions of dollars at stake I do not know.
Naturally, I will be accused of being concerned only because I wanted McLaren and Hamilton to win the race and my protests that I want to see justice done will be ignored. Such things happen when we allow our support for one team or another to cloud our view of things. I think Vettel should have been penalized for his ridiculous dice with Alonso down the pit lane in Hungary - where is my assumed partiality in that?
Anyone who cares at all for the sport, rather than a particular driver or team, must surely see that it is intolerable that incidents are dealt with by the stewards in so haphazard a manner. This has gone on for years and should have been stopped long ago. If it means that one team runs away with the championship, then so be it - we have had years like that in the past and F1 has survived it.