Was the stewards’ decision to ban Renault influenced by Massa and Surtees’ accidents?

After Renault was handed a race ban by the stewards for Alonso’s loose tire incident, questions have been raise regarding the ban. The severity of the ban and its wholesale approach, points to something other than just crime and punishment. And the big question here is, was the punishment influence by the recent accidents?

The stewards’ decision to impose a one race ban on Renault came as a result of two things.
i, Renault knowingly releasing Alonso out onto the race track with as unsecured wheel.
ii, Renault’s failure to inform Alonso of the problem even when he radioed the team
complaining of a possible puncher.

According to the stewards at no point was Alonso implicated, if anything he was put in as much danger not to mention his ruined race. Now if Alonso new or was told of the problem and continued anyway, that would have been a different story. So banning the victim (Alonso) and an innocent party (Piquet Jr) together with the culprits seems a bit strange.

With Massa’s horrific freak accident and Henry Surtees’ fatal accident still fresh on stewards’ minds, it’s hard not to see their influence in the stewards’ decision. It looks as if the stewards were trying to send a message but unfortunately went about it the wrong way.

Just as Renault can’t use the excuse of no harm no foul, the stewards can’t penalize innocent people for the sake of sending a message. In Melbourne this year Vettel tried to finish the race with a dislocated tire and was only given a demotion for the next race. This was every bit as dangerous because of the trail of debris Vettel’s car was leaving on the race track.

Both incidents endangered other drivers and in both incidents the teams failed to act. Why does one walk away with a slap on the wrist and the other (a victim not a perpetrator) gets punished. The disparity between the two incidents is simply outrageous and both Alonso and Piquet Jr have every reason to feel hard done by.

The bottom line here is, if the two accidents hadn’t happened the stewards wouldn’t have reacted the way they did. Whichever way you look at it, an injustice was done to both Renault drivers. And if the FIA follows the stewards lead on the Massa accident, F1 will find itself in a lot of unwarranted and unnecessary problems in the not too distant future.