Sato excluded from results

By on

BAR Honda's Takuma Sato has been excluded from the results of today's Japanese Grand Prix following his incident with Jarno Trulli. Sato came up behind the Italian at the chicane on lap nine. A somewhat optimistic move to the inside saw Sato's BAR slide heavily into the side of Trulli's, putting the Toyota driver out of the race.

The FIA have announced that Sato will lose his 13th place finish, meaning he'll now be first out in the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix next week at Shangai.
FIA statement "The Stewards viewed the video of the incident and presented the same to Takuma Sato and his Team Manager Ron Meadows and independently to Jarno Trulli and his team manager Richard Cregan.
Having heard both parties the stewards independently conclude that Takuma Sato was involved in an incident 'forcing the driver of car number 16 off the track' and therefore reprimand Sato and order that he be excluded from the results."