F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Vettel Penalty... Deserved or Unfair?

[liby88]

i would say give hamilton 5 secs aswell cause of dangerous driving he saw vettel goin of an he should know that his just can came back were he didi and lewis didn´t slow down so he was takin the risk if he would lift the gas and went of the line with slower speed he could easily overtake him but well this stewards never have been on a race track obviously , and i have to say i don´t like vettel , just in case of fanboi bla bla

 

[Kakusso]

Vettel has a tendency to lose the rear of his car under pressure. It happened yet again. A great driver like him should invest in a personal trainer to correct that.
Regarding the punishment Vettel impeded Hamilton weather it was intentional or not is irrelevant. In any sport the intention when in fault is irrelevant.

 

[Authense]

There are people who do believe that the rules have been followed and there are other people who don't. Fine. That can be discussed forever but it is what it is.

But then there are people who believe this has to do with what they call "fairness" nowadays. These are the funny people. Most of the members of this growing group also think that equal opportunities should - correction - must lead to equal outcome and if not I has to be imposed by law. "Why do I get punished for speeding and the other car I saw doesn't? That's not fair, judge!" Imagine!

Proposal:
Why don't we debate the paygap in F1 then? Is it "fair" that Hamilton gets so much more money than Lando Norris while taking less risk in a much better car? Let's have as many fairness question as we can make up. With his one hand messed up Kubica should get something extra every race - not fair.

Let's hear the best driver of today on the radio and then in the drivers waiting room: "Teacher, teacher! He forced me off the track!". Again on the radio "I surely did not want to win this way" but then towards Vettel "that was the teachers decision"...yeah, he is a true gentleman and such a fair sportsman too, an icon for sure, a true idol of today, an example for children.

Fairness? Really? - ROFL

 

[RobertGracie]

Vettel was out of control at the time of the incident and how could he have turned to the left with full opposite right hand lock on? I will tell you how he needed to break the laws of physics to do it, that penalty was pressured from Mercedes, I would quite like to see the FIA review their policy to become more neutral in F1 rather than favouring one team....

 

[Authense]

I don't think so, Robert. Mercedes will easily win this championship and besides "fairness" the owners of F1 need some "competition", it must not get too boring. So why would they allow the stewards to favor that one team which always wins? Makes no sense at all.

 

[liby88]

na payment is such a thing do u really think manager deserve tons of money? most of them not really but they get it anyways. so payment , each team should pay what they think

 

[Denis Betty]

Had to reply to this as this sort of mentality is just extremely disappointing. Compromised his lap? Really? If they we’re out there doing quali then that would be true but I believe it’s actually called RACING, no? There’s no such thing as “compromised someone’s lap” unless it’s a backmarker being lapped. I see the same problem in sim racing where someone behind you, if they are faster feels like they have some sort of entitlement for the driver ahead to let them through.

Whether you call it compromising somebodies lap or blocking, it amounts to the same. OK, my choice of words wasn't the best, but Vettel made a mistake and almost came to a stop on the racing line, right in front of the guy he was racing - causing Hamilton to stop. At this point, he has seriously disadvantaged another driver. Keeping the place is just cheating.

 

[mrbungle83]

i would say give hamilton 5 secs aswell cause of dangerous driving he saw vettel goin of an he should know that his just can came back were he didi and lewis didn´t slow down so he was takin the risk if he would lift the gas and went of the line with slower speed he could easily overtake him but well this stewards never have been on a race track obviously , and i have to say i don´t like vettel , just in case of fanboi bla bla

Don't apply to be a steward its bad enough as it is.

 

[Kaygeeoh]

When Vettel pressed his brakes on that corner, he knew full well how far HAM was behind him. Did he panic thinking he might lose position when he was grass cutting, probably. He was off track, no longer on the racing line. When he comes back on track, his priority should be to get control of the car, not get back on track and impede the following driver who is still on track and on the racing line. The following driver had to take evasive action to avoid an accident. Had there not been a wall there he would have been pushed off the track. Hence the penalty. He made a mistake that had a cascading effect and led to the penalty. He needs to not make these mistakes, then he would not be in this position.

That being said, that penalty call was bull from a racing fan point of view. If in his appeal the stewards can put forward evidence that he was unsafe, and did not try to get the car under control before rejoining the track, then so be it. If not, then they should reverse the decision and give the man his dues.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I suspect that there is something in Vettel's telemetry that shows he did not use 'slowing down' as a means to regain control of his car. If that is the case, it's a fair penalty - if not, then Vettel should feel hard done by.

 

[Filip Carlén]

This has had me think quite a lot... Yea, VET did block HAM, but what would have happened if VET tried anything else? Hard on the brake would cause a lock up, making him go in to the wall, or even if he would have made it, HAM would have hit him. Going further to the left? With grassy tires that would probably caused a spin, and HAM would probably hit VET. I think VET did the best thing he could (except for not missing the corner, duh), and got penalized really hard for that. For me, that feels wrong. Five seconds is insanely much in F1, the last car in Q1 was four seconds after the fasted Q3 time. F1 should consider a better way of penalizing minor stuff, maybe like MotoGPs new "penalty zone", a small detour taking a 1-2 seconds (as pictures below).

 

[farjam]

An interesting article from motosport.com, about the insights , reasons or may be excuses for the penalty, click on the paragraph below
A second steering wheel input from Sebastian Vettel after he regained control of his Ferrari following his off-track excursion was key to the decision to punish him at the Canadian Grand Prix, Motorsport.com has learned.

 

[ears]

Well , if it's all about safety, Hamilton should have thought, oh he has trouble, this part is really narrow, let play it safe ant get him on the next corner and slow down

But of course he didn't, he saw a chance and wanted to squeeze through, same way how Vettel Is racer And didn't wanted to lose race

Racing incident imo
If you take all of this away , it will lose all the rest of glimpses of a fun race, and will really become boring

I don't think it is about safety. Vettel appeared to try and make it about safety. It's not about Hamilton at all.

Besides, watching the videos again, the car was totally under control way before he drifted to the wall. You see him looking in his mirrors too.

There's a lot of emotion in this one, probably because of a quite common desire to see a break in Mercedes dominance.

It would have been interesting to see the reaction had it been the other way around. If Hamilton had made the error, if he'd impeded Vettel, preventing him from taking the lead and if no penalty had been applied.

 

[ears]

Look at [the incident with] Kimi, [Verstappen]'s off the track and he comes back and if Kimi just drives on they'd collide. But it's not always right that the other guy has to move. We're all racing, the race is long.

This quote was found and included in an article on the BBC website by Andrew Benson.

 

[Pawel Ziolkowski]

That was really masterfully done blocking by Vettel. Really enjoyed that.
And assuming that being fully out of control during that would not be an infraction, it was amazing work/balls of the stewards to notice and apply that penalty.

But lol at the pool results sitting at only 22% for the penalty. I guess most voted with their hearts. Because I'd too wholeheartedly disagree with the idea of having a penalty after that incident, but i think it was a correct move on behalf of the stewards.

So tbh it makes this pool really hard to judge (fair to what? fair to rules yes, fair to drivers/spectators? no)

 

[Flip-Flop Driver]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how good this generation of drivers is when it comes to play tricks.
When Schumacher played his tricks he got caught half of the time.
But Rosberg in Monaco 2014 played it perfectly.
And Vettel today almost got away with it. Not only he showed a lot of ability in blocking Hamilton in a dubious way he also deserves an Oscar for his acting performance on the radio and after the race.
Any driver would have resorted to the same bag of tricks.
But they are getting so good in it that it reminds me of the movie Gone Girl.

 

[Minardi10]

Hamilton is to break all records of Michael Schumacher bending and breaking.
As the officials are all means right.
And besides,that can then be marketed very well.

 

[Ruy Horta]

What is F1?

Boys will be boys, give them some room and you’ll likely see some good action.
Mistakes are made when you push the limits, that’s what makes it fun.

If you want robot engineers and safe and flawless driving, just remove the drivers from the car - go AI or if you want to keep human errors in go remote control. All very safe...

Boys don’t race to play it safe.
That’s why I always enjoy watching Aus Supercar racing.
A lot of unforgiving tracks combined with rules that allow some actual racing.
Cannot remember when I last bothered to schedule watching an F1 race.

 

[ears]

I'm not sure it's been mentioned amongst all the "strong opinions" but Ferrari have submitted an appeal. Should be interesting.

 

[RichardHessels]

Vettel made a great TV show from it afterwards.
Was quite impressed he did no slam the wall in front or right after that on the right side.
He was on full lock, all the time still ahead of Hamilton.
Sometimes you should for the course of the race and the spectacle see whats fair (still a TV show).
Previous race with Verstappen, there was contact that could have been avoided.
Bottas car got damaged on the way, so yes thats 5 seconds well deserved.
In this case, did the driver do anything to avoid collision, yes.
Has there been any contact, no. Than just race!!!
Hamilton could have lived with being second and would happy for Seb, you would have seen satisfied atlethes on the podium. Fans would have loved to see another brand on finishing first.
This ending was a disgrace to the sports.
Giving Vettel no penalty was easier to explain than giving it in the end.