Vettel: F1 'no longer the sport I fell in love with'
F1 is rallying behind Sebastian Vettel after the German accused FIA stewards of "stealing" his race victory in Canada.
The Ferrari driver was livid after receiving a time penalty for unsafely returning to the track in front of Lewis Hamilton following a mistake in Sunday's race in Montreal.
Although Vettel met the chequered flag first, Hamilton was declared the winner. Some characterised Vettel's subsequent post-race reaction as childish.
Many more vehemently supported the 31-year-old.
"Anyone who has raced knows that Vettel was right," former F1 driver JJ Lehto told Iltalehti.
Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder told Blick newspaper: "The decision is a joke. This is how you break our sport."
Ferrari has vowed to appeal the lost victory, but Zehnder said: "The regulations make clear that you cannot appeal this sort of decision unless new evidence emerges."
The Montreal crowd booed the decision, with a furious Vettel declaring: "You should ask the people what they think."
Other former drivers also made their feelings clear. Nigel Mansell said the stewards created a "false result", Mark Webber called it a "mental penalty", while Mario Andretti said the decision was "not acceptable".
"What happened to 'let them race'?" Grand Prix Drivers' Association boss Alex Wurz added.
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said: "What really hurts is that in similar cases in the past, different decisions were taken."
Even Toto Wolff sounded uncomfortable with the decision, even though he said the stewards' decisions should be accepted.
"In Sebastian's place, I would have grabbed the sign with the number 1 and thrown it at the car," he said.
"If there is a proposal to adjust the rules in favour of a tougher fight, I will be the first to support such an idea, because the greater the danger, the higher the entertainment."
Lewis Hamilton said the post-race controversy left him a winner with "an empty feeling".
Vettel said he mourns for the F1 of the past.
"Ultimately, it's not the sport that I fell in love with when I was watching," he said.
Below you can watch the incident as much as you want:
Race. Defining. Moment. 📽️#CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/053sau3we1
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 9, 2019
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The Canadian Grand Prix left a bitter taste and I and many in SA are not happy with the result . I watched the whole race and now I have reservations about the sport. The STEWARDS MADE AN IMPULSIVE DECISION . I HOPE THERE WILL BE A BOYCOTT OF SOME SORT.
THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. IT WAS A RACING INCIDENT AND WHAT EXACTLY WOULD ANYONE ELSE HAVE DONE IN THAT POSITION...... ?
I too, was absolutely disgusted with the decision - now I'm calmer I can be more polite. But I most certainly wasn't yesterday! Perhaps it's time to replace the stewards who made such an outrageous decision - they are, clearly, totally incompetent. Such totally unfair decisions will, as everyone is now saying, ruin F1
Seb was in a no win situation caused by himself,He lost control into the bend and used the grass area to save himself,by doing so he impeded L/H and kept the lead,He had driven a great race upto this error,Had L/H committed the error then ferrari would have been calling to the stewards,The letter of the rule is clear,unsafe return to track,not popular with the fans me included ,but there you have it
How we miss Charlie Whiting!!!...
I have it on good authority that Vettel is being investigated on the suspicion that, in his previous life, he was a member and a sympathiser of certain ruling party in Germany.
Simon, don't be such a xenophobe! Why would you even bring this up? It has nothing to do with anything remotely related to F1, or Vettel for that matter. Because he's German, he must be a Nazi? Are you an idiot? The world just celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day for Pete's sake. Anyone that accuses someone of being a Nazi for no reason deserves to get his @ss whipped.
"...Simon, don't be such a xenophobe! Why would you even bring this up? ..."
Why would I?
For the simple reason that both the sport and this board have become excessively politically correct!
You, evidently, missed the whole point of what I said, thereby proving my point.
Posters have repeatedly attacked drivers (Verstappen in particular) invoking the sanctimonious concerns for safety, saying how it's only a matter of time before someone gets killed because of aggressive driving...That may be so. Then ask Hamilton, and whoever is pursuing the car with an intent of overtaking, to give the car in front breathing space, to ease off. Formula 1 is car racing and not a tea party.
Simon stop winding the children up,you should know better,
Spanner, I agree, you're right.
Vettel n ferrari seriouly ask urself .....what if the roles were reversed? Answer ....ud be shouting from the roof tops '''''penalty '''.
That is strictly a conjecture. Can you list examples where Vettel and Ferrari, actually, did that?
Japan 2018. Max V Raikkonen. See my comments below because Seb even made critical comments about Max. That said I'm sure there's plenty of times things have happened similar and attracted no penalty.
If Sebastian Vettel doesn't like the rules and is unhappy with the sport perhaps he should either stop cheating or find another career.
Lewis crises and wins... Simple as that. On team radio he shouted "UNSAFE RETURN!" to be sure that everyone would look at it in the wrong light. I thought he was better than that; that he might be improving in his ways. But that appears NOT to be the case. It is a decision that will NOT help the sport at all. Do they watch NASCAR in Europe and elsewhere? Take a long look at this FIA. It might be one of your last.
I think FIA was bribe its so unfair Vettel you the man not Hammilton
But well done Lewis that maybe how sport goes win some loose some
Pretty outrageous decision by the race steward which left a bitter taste in my mouth and ruined the whole atmosphere on the track. It was rather poor judgement of the incident that caused a lot viewers and F1 fans to react to such an unwise decision to punish Vettel for a racing error in the heat of the chase when he was ahead of Hamilton. I just think Vettel did not deserve such a treatment when he was driving so well and then they destroyed him and handed over victory to Hamilton.It appears to me that no matter how good Vettel is he is not allowed to win and his critics are still loud. Such a sorry state of affairs inside of F1! And Hamilton keeps scoring more points and counts his good fortunes on the way while the other drivers try and fail to challenge him and he can certainly profit from the mistakes others make , simply he keeps winning even when things go wrong for him as he had an engine trouble before the race in Canada and they were not sure if he would last the race. What does Seb need to do to win at least one race? I just hope that the next race will be less controversial and we see Ferrari still improving and getting ahead of the Mercedes. By the way , what happened to Bottas' title challenge?
Well, the Hamilton supporters, particularly Vettel detractors, are out in force. What comes to mind is: Men protest too much!
Bit unfair Simon. I think at the time you wrote this comment there were probably at least as many supporters of Seb as detractors and that was before my comment and I like Seb.
I see your point, I was not specific enough.
I was referring to other forums, media, and views of various people whose opinions carry weight. All of those are overwhelmingly anti-Vettel. One exception is a piece on Top Gear which not so much sides with Vettel as it points to the racket of rigging.
Many arguments here, and elsewhere, boil down to (and are actually stated as) "rules are rules," to which I answer farts are farts, but stating that doesn't make them smell any better.
Fair enough Simon. I didn’t want it to end the way it did neither but maybe the rules will be amended but for now the Stewards are being criticised by some for applying the rules.
I think that Lewis has got inside Sebs head and is causing him problems that he shouldn’t be at his level of expertise. I hope he gets a few good wins behind him with Lewis challenging him and maybe he can regain some confidence back but if not I can see someone else in the red car, even as early as next year.
Where Lewis got or did not, is a speculation that doesn't help the situation or the Formula. People ought to deal in facts. (Several arguments boil down to: Vettel cracked under pressure from Lewis, was forced into a mistake, therefore he deserves the punishment. Some complain that Lewis had to brake, to which the answer is: Yes, that is exactly why they install the brakes on all for wheels!)
Last year, I think in Belgium, Hamilton and the pit miscommunicated. It was one of those "box, box," "no, no, no box, no box." The upshot was that Lewis headed for the pit and then aborted it, rejoining the traffic clearly beyond the point allowed - a punishable offence. Miraculously, Lewis got no penalty.
My understanding is that Binotto stated that he has no issue with the penalty per se, but with stewards arbitrary application of it.
SV is becoming as big a cheat as Schumacher !
It was great watching Lewis go for that gap, before SV shut the door.
The rules allow that the door can be shut - once per a pass attempt.
That's something you and I agree on: it was great seeing Lewis being shut out!
Seb did not shut the door rather he fell in to it having come off the grass he was just a passenger
until he regained full control , a great piece of reflex driving by BOTH drivers
Very good observation. Totally agree. I was being facetious.
I do wonder, though, why critics of Vettel demand that he do what was physically impossible: stop on the grass, or get on the pavement as if nothing happened?
he stewards have released the full transcript and in fairness if what they have said has occurred then the penalty was warranted. It's pretty straightforward. Seb made a small error and went off but on re-entering did not do it safely as the regulation insists. The Stewards say that they have looked at the telemetry, cameras not available to us and other data and basically concluded that there was a point at which he was a passenger, however on re-entering the track it would appear that he got a snap of understeer caused by hitting the loud pedal, corrected it and then became in control of the car and simply allowed his car to wash out and into the racing line, which belonged to Hamilton. They suggest he could have gone left at that point and allowed sufficient space for Hamilton but didn't and therefore took him off the track and caused Hamilton to take evasive action in order to prevent a crash.
The stewards apparently sighted Verstappen v Raikkonen when Max was punished in the same fashion.
Rather than a deliberate blocking act I honestly believe it was an instinctive action that any of the top drivers would do to stay in the lead in what is after all a split second decision.
It's a shame because it was getting exciting up until that point and I honestly believe if CW was still alive Ferrari would(after a few words from Charlie) have let Hamilton by at some point over the next lap and then at least Seb could have had a stab at Lewis and there wouldn’t have been a penalty.
However, when all is said and done the Stewards are not there to make good tv viewing but to try and implement the rules fairly and consistently and I'm afraid, although Seb had a terrific weekend he made a mistake that ultimately cost him and from what I've seen it seems consistent with Max's punishment last year.
Excellent comments BlackDog.
It's a pity the Stewards couldn't have given just a 2 second penalty.
Thanks for that Jennifer. Five seconds is actually the smallest penalty available for this offence but I take your point
Simon Saivil talking bulls**t as usual-Simon, did you have a lobotomy recently or are you on the bottle again?
Simon please stop your xenophobic comments - not necessary to make a point!
O, another contributor who tangles with English beyond her ken!
The reality is that the stewards (English mafia are just looking for excuses to penalise Ferrari. This is not the first incident SV and Ferrari are unfairly penalised. SV did not have control of the car to steer it away from Lewis, so we can hardly expect that this incident could’ve been avoided. Hamilton could’ve easily overtake on the inside. Bottom line is that this types of policies are killing F1, there is not more real racing and making it a very expensive car procession. They should take a leaf out MotoGP to provide an exciting show.
I agree that policies should be applied consistently but I think you are wrong with your assessment. We have the couple of camera angles supplied by the broadcaster, information supplied by the pundits and our own common sense and that's normally enough to get a good flavour of an incident. However, in this case the rule does not require intent on the part of the driver. Merely that having been off the track that the car re-enters it in an unsafe manner. That means that you do not take the racing line unless it is safe to do so. It also means that you must no force a car off track by your actions, whether intentional or not. So from that point the Stewards are left with a breach of the code.
So they then look at other factors to determine the level of punishment. In this case the Stewards had telemetry that showed braking, acceleration and steering inputs and what they say is that there was a point when Seb had control enough to keep left and allow a cars width to Lewis. However, as Lewis's approach speed was much higher it would mean that he would pass Seb, so rather than steer left he allowed his car to wash out it's drift to the right and close the door, which they say he was not entitled to do under the regs. The case of Verstappen V Raikkonen in Japan last year was used and the same penalty applied.
It's worth a look at because not only is it very similar (although less dangerous because of the width of the track) neither driver was English and what is even more relevant to me is that Seb was interviewed and made a comment, which is interesting. Here's a piece of the BBC article which deals with it
Vettel's incident was almost a carbon copy of Max Verstappen's with Kimi Raikkonen at the final chicane in Japan last year, just 11 races ago.
In Japan, Verstappen locked up under pressure from the Finn, cut the corner, and in rejoining he forced Raikkonen off and kept the place.
The Red Bull driver picked up a five-second penalty, and few complained about it afterwards. The general reaction was that Verstappen was too aggressive and deserved it. And I can guarantee you the Ferrari camp would have agreed with that penalty at the time.
In fact, Vettel said so publicly - stating that the driver in Raikkonen's position should not always have to take avoiding action."
To me it's consistent with the other incident. That doesn't mean that each of us couldn't find an incident where the regs were not applied but what do you honestly think Ferrari would have done if the situation was reversed and just as importantly how would the contributors to this thread have responded then. I can say with my hand on my heart that I'd have said the same thing but how many others could.......honestly!
I can see how you are into impalpable evidence such as "Lewis got into Sebastian's head."
You now offer another intangible:
"....However, as Lewis's approach speed was much higher it would mean that HE WOULD PASS SEB..." (My emphasis.)
Regulatory hooliganism should not fear for its future.
I accept the comment about Lewis being inside Sebs head is a personal opinion but I'd be surprised if it wasn't shared by others.
Seb used to be the consummate finisher. Once in the lead he brought the car home and would often set the fastest lap on his way to the chequered flag. He then went to Ferrari and had an inferior car so was rarely tested but once he got a competitive car as in 2017 and particularly last year where he was in head to heads he hasn't performed well against Lewis.
Given that Seb is one of the very best drivers of the decade it's perplexing to see him perform below his best. Sure some of that is due to factors outside his control but too much isn't. And that's why I at least think that it's a problem with Sebs psychology rather than his driving skill.
I also think that had he not made the error then he would have a near perfect weekend and if that was repeated a few times he'd hopefully regain his confidence.
I am only an observer who follows, semi-casually, Formula. You may be in a different position and have different access, understanding, and view of the events.
However, I consider it inappropriate to engage in this promiscuous shrink-vigilantism putting Vettel on the proverbial couch.
It would appear that he did make a mistake and drive off the track. How that translates into the logical chain, which appears to rule the roost, of:
a, he was under pressure,
b, pressure forced him into an error,
c, he made an error therefore penalty must be applied
is beyond me.
I do understand that the rule talks about unsafe entry, and not about the pressure, but that is not what I have the issue with. My issue is with the posters who are hardly better qualified than myself to judge the actual incident, and yet they argue the points a,b,c as I listed them above.
Shoemakers should stick to the shoes.
We will have to agree to disagree Simon because if Shoemakers stuck to shoes then this would be a very dull message board although I would know how best to dress my feet.
I believe we are entitled to an opinion and as long as it's not meant to cause undue offence. In those circumstances discussion / opinion is a good thing. There are one or two on here who seem to go out of their way to be contrary and argumentative almost as a raison d'etre and I can think of no one who epitomises this more than yourself.
Ok then, let me live up to that billing.
I do stand by my views, and if that means arguing so be it.
People in glass houses should not be hurling rocks. You, and several others, have taken it upon yourselves to argue ad hominem, attempting - unsuccessfully - to turn me into a subject of a debate, when my views did not sit well with you.
On that note let us not just agree to disagree, but to stay out of each other's way. For as long as your posts do not involve me and I am not targeted, however surreptitiously, I shall ignore them.
However, any comments directed at me I shall arrogate myself the right to respond to as I see fit.
Be well.
I take no issue with anyone having a view and I respect the fact that you have always been reasoned and reasonable with me. And I’d have to agree you have lots of views and aren’t afraid to put them forward but your Ad Hominem remark is wide of the mark and is frankly a tactic more akin to your own postings from what I’ve seen. And for someone who has strong opinion and is no shrinking violet, I was disappointed that you chose not to when Hamilton was the subject of racial abuse on the message board. It may be that you just didn’t see the comments (although you were posting at that time) or your antipathy to certain drivers means you could never bring yourself to defend anyone that you don’t like.
However as we have come to an understanding I wish you well too.