FIA could penalize Spa for Shell protests

Vettel could not understand why they were booing him on the victory podium. He just had to look behind his head and the sponsor Shell logo

(GMM) F1's governing body could penalize organizers of the Belgian grand prix, after the extensive Greenpeace protests on Sunday.

Hitting out at race sponsor Shell's apparent plans for Arctic oil drilling, the environmental activists took to the skies with banners, scaled Spa-Francorchamps' main grandstand and interrupted the post-race podium procedure.

"It's a worry," Red Bull consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Bild newspaper.

"Imagine if it was an organization that didn't want to unfurl banners, but wanted to set off bombs."

The German newspaper said the FIA could penalize the race organizers for not having adequate security measures in place.

And the Swiss newspaper Blick said the penalty could run into the millions.