Williamson denied Spa victoryposted in MSPOR03 | 06 | 2012

SCOTLAND'S LEWIS WILLIAMSON was first to cross the finish line in the latest round of the World Series Formula Renault 3.5 at a rain-lashed Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium (see more official photos of Lewis in action at Spa-Francorchamps today).

But the 22-year-old's joy was short-lived when he was controversially handed a 60-second penalty, dropping him back to a disappointing 16th.

The Golspie-based driver, who started the Formula One feeder series race from fourth on the grid, was leading when the Safety Car was deployed.

Its appearance followed Kiwi Richie Stanaway's car being pitched into the air at Les Combes after it clipped the rear of Carlos Huertas. As Stanaway struggled to extract himself from the car, officials took the decision to stop the race.

Of the leading five cars, four — including Williamson — had not completed their mandatory pitstop. In contrast, eventual race winner, Dane Kevin Magnussen in fourth, had.

Following orders from his Red Bull-backed Arden Caterham team, Williamson remained on-track after the race restarted and continued to take the chequered flag.

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While there was much scratching of heads around the track as the events unfolded, the question of whether Red Bull was simply maximising TV exposure was debated.

Within minutes of parking his Red Bull-liveried car in the race winner's position in parc ferme, organisers imposed a controversial 60secs penalty on the Scot for not pitting, relegating him to 16th.

"It's frustrating and disappointing," Williamson, a member of the Red Bull Young Driver Development Programme and who is backed by the Highland Arena consortium, said afterwards.

"In those terrible conditions, we had a car good enough to finish on the podium. We were in the perfect position to achieve that, but then the Safety Car and the Red Flag wrecked our race.

"After that, I followed the instructions I received from the team and essentially we just used the remaining laps as an extensive test session. As for the size of the penalty, I have my own views on that and at the moment I'll keep them to myself."

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Jim McGill