Just reading that Kimi stopped sufficiently late to still receive a point for eighth, so he is classed as a finisher. If he finished, but still requires an engine change before the next race, will he incur a 10 grid place penalty. If he had retired before the end of the race, under normal rules, the engine change is free and is not punishable. How does that rules deal with this situation?

Matt

three ways of looking at it.
firstly regardless of when he stops as long as the engine is sufficiently damaged in the previous race the engine change is free. The engine only becomes locked when a car is locked in parc ferme conditions at the end of the race. Kimi's car didn't make the end thus didn't make parc ferme.
This year the first engine change is a freebie anyway, so it wouldn't matter as he wont take a penalty if he doesn't fall into the usual free change rules. I was screaming at the tv when the commentry guys kept missing this fact out.
Thirdly ferrari dont have to use the free engine change on the first blow up. My understanding is it can be used at any point with the exception of brazil. So if they do need to change it Ferrari would then have to decide if now is the best time to do it. Malaysia is an easy track to pass on plus rain is in the forecast so if Kimi quali's 1st then he'd be starting from 11th. Is it really worth wasting the engine change now when he might need it 7 races on when the title race becomes important.

As a side note Ferrari need to find and fix the part that broke because when the lights go green on sunday the engines and all the parts in them become homologated for the next 4 years. So they'd run the risk of that weak part continually breaking as they wouldn't be allowed to change how its manufactured or designed.