Near-Unanimous Disagreement With Vettel's Penalty From Drivers And Pundits
While leading the race, Vettel made a slight mistake at Turn 3 and had to run across the grass. Upon rejoining the circuit, Lewis Hamilton had to take avoiding action and came on the radio to complain that the Ferrari driver had rejoined the circuit unfairly.
However, the onboard footage revealed that Vettel was still fighting the car as he came back onto the circuit and that, realistically, there was nothing more he could have done. It was a clear racing incident and yet, the stewards took the decision to issue Vettel a five-second penalty for an unsafe rejoin.
That meant that although he crossed the line first at the end of the 70 laps, he was demoted to second as Hamilton took the win, much to Vettel’s fury. After saying “you need to be an absolute blind man to think you can go through the grass and then control the car”, Vettel decided not to drive to parc ferme and instead stopped at the beginning of the pit lane and went back to his motorhome, seemingly intending on skipping the podium ceremony as a protest. The, realising this could result in further penalties, he reluctantly made his way to the rostrum - but not before heading to parc ferme, putting the P2 board in front of Hamilton’s car and the P1 board in front of the empty space where his car should have been.
It was an incredible piece of drama, but it doesn’t change the fact that the stewarding decision not only destroyed what had been a very good race, but was completely and utterly wrong. That’s not just the opinion of Vettel or indeed this writer, but of the vast majority of fans, pundits, and racing drivers. A quick scan on Twitter reveals the extent to which many disagreed with the decision.
That’s ridiculous 5 seconds penalty,Seb did well not to hit the https://t.co/f2onSfj4Bl GRIP ON GRASS !
— Nigel Mansell CBE (@nigelmansell) June 9, 2019
No room on track there.Great driving from Lewis.
What’s Seb supposed to do?Crazy ,the car stepped https://t.co/ybVmo5UkQL that point he was a passenger.
— Nigel Mansell CBE (@nigelmansell) June 9, 2019
Very very https://t.co/CJcFu85l7f joy in watching this race ,two champions driving brilliantly,will end in a false result.
— Nigel Mansell CBE (@nigelmansell) June 9, 2019
Just saw some highlights of the Canadian GP. What a joke of a penalty for Vettel. Stop killing the racing you twats. Unreal.
— Kelvin van der Linde ™ (@KelvinvdLinde) June 9, 2019
This penalty is bullshit.... #F1 🙈
— Daniel Abt (@Daniel_Abt) June 9, 2019
my observation on Vettel rejoining: his helmet moved to look into mirror only after steering correction! that he slid that far is laws of physics. No space for Lewis is name of game with street tracks. What happened to #LetThemRace ? Was it sketchy? yes! a penalty? not in my view
— alex wurz (@alex_wurz) June 9, 2019
Worthy winner today without doubt! Shocking penalty, fair play Seb! #CanadianGP 🏆 https://t.co/4khOuKCUW0
— Jack Harvey (@jack_harvey42) June 9, 2019
Thanks for all your votes. My personal view is that he could have left more room, but we lost a great final few laps because of the penalty. There was enough doubt to let them carry on. Remember Dijon! #f1 #Dijon
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) June 9, 2019
What a ridiculous call!! 5 second penalty, this is supposed to be racing, that’s part of it!! Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot!
— David Hobbs (@MrDavidHobbs) June 9, 2019
So close. Closed it well by Vettel, to me that’s racing. No penalty. End of message. #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/ahR81Bcy6u
— Giedo van der Garde (@GvanderGarde) June 9, 2019
#F1 that’s a bullshit penalty
— David Perel (@davidperel) June 9, 2019
The podium cermony showed how no one was happy to be up there, as a result of this stupid penalty. It ruined a great race for all us fans... Kudos to Vettel for not having it, and to Hamilton for being a great sportsman. #anticlimax #F1
— Felix Rosenqvist (@FRosenqvist) June 9, 2019
.@f1 was Vettel meant to vanish into thin air once rejoining the track there? #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/dFynmDECrA
— Stefan Wilson (@stef_wilson) June 9, 2019
Pure bullshit 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 pic.twitter.com/n7cVMmBXQp
— Nico Prost (@nico_prost) June 9, 2019
Congrats to @fia to kill the sport and the real fight on track... #f1canada #f1 #Skysportsf1 @F1 #joke
— Marco Bonanomi (@MarcoBonanomi) June 9, 2019
Not sure what the stewards expected Vettel to do as he rejoined, make his car disappear? pic.twitter.com/7Kw7w6Q53r
— Marino Franchitti (@MFranchitti) June 9, 2019
"For me, it's a racing incident. You can’t just stop the car and stay off the circuit."@JensonButton has his say on the Sebastian Vettel penalty which denied him a #CanadianGP victory
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 9, 2019
Not really sure what VET could have done differently when rejoining....with the momentum he had he was always going to end up where he did....tough decision for VET. https://t.co/PVAFnPFdFm
— Allan McNish (@allanmcnish) June 9, 2019
I think the function of the stewards is to penalize flagrantly unsafe moves not honest mistakes as result of hard racing. What happened at #CanadaGp is not acceptable at this level of our great sport. @F1
— Mario Andretti (@MarioAndretti) June 9, 2019
Hamilton almost looked embarrassed to have won the grand prix in such a way, while Vettel actually dealt with his fury in an incredibly mature way, repeatedly making it clear that any negativity should be directed to those who make the decisions and not those who benefit from them.
Sebastian may have lost the race, but the biggest defeat is surely the one the sport has inflicted on itself with a bad decision at a time when it could have really used a win.
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