Bar Backs Down Over Race Ban

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BAR BACKS DOWN OVER RACE BAN

(ITV)

The BAR-Honda Formula 1 team has accepted full responsibility for its two-race ban and subsequent disqualification from the San Marino Grand Prix in a statement released by the team on Thursday.

The move is seen as a public U-turn for BAR, which had previously proclaimed its innocence at the charges levied at it by the sport's governing body, the FIA.

The team was punished after Jenson Button's car was found to be underweight when drained of fuel in scrutineering following the race at Imola.

"Having investigated the matter fully, including making extensive enquiries of other teams, BAR Honda now accept that Formula One cars must always weigh more than 600kg when completely empty of fuel and that this applies even if the car's fuel system is such that some of the fuel in the car is unusable," the statement read.

"Before making these enquiries it was the team's honest belief that fuel which could not be used during the race did not have to be removed before the car was weighed."

The team's CEO Nick Fry said during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend that the punishment was "wholly and grossly disproportionate", but according to the statement BAR appears to have climbed down from this stance.

"BAR Honda accepts the decision of the FIA Court of Appeal as fair in the circumstances and recognise that the judges in this, as in other cases, are fully independent, being lawyers and professional judges of high standing who give their service on a voluntary basis," it reads.

BAR further incurred the wrath of the FIA on Monday by suggesting that the International Court of Appeal was not independent of the governing body.

This provoked the FIA into releasing a statement of its own indicating that the team could yet face further sanctions: "Any sport is likely to impose further sanctions on a competitor which attacks the integrity of the governing body."

BAR's statement could be interpreted as a method of backing down from another public confrontation with the FIA.

The team now claims that it wants to draw a line over the whole affair and move on to the lifting of its ban at the end of May.