Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Vettel penalty hands Hamilton Canadian Grand Prix victory

2019 Canadian Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton has won the Canadian Grand Prix for the seventh time after Sebastian Vettel was given a penalty.

The Ferrari driver came off the track at turn three while under pressure from Hamilton. As he rejoined at turn four he squeezed the Mercedes, forcing Hamilton to back off. Hamilton quickly reported the incident on the radio and a few laps later the stewards handed down a five-second time penalty for Vettel.

An unhappy Vettel, who complained the stewards were “stealing the race from us”, finished the race a second ahead of Vettel, which relegated him to second place after his penalty. Charles Leclerc took third, putting both Ferraris on the podium together for the first time this year.

Valtteri Bottas never figured in the fight for the lead and took fourth place after pitting for a fresh set of soft tyres at the end of the race to take the bonus point for fastest lap.

Max Verstappen climbed to ninth place after running a long stint on the hard compound tyres. He moved ahead of team mate Pierre Gasly along the way, who spent much of the race stuck behind Lance Stroll until the Racing Point driver pitted. Gasly came in eighth, the Red Bull pair separated by the two Renaults, led by Daniel Ricciardo.

Daniil Kvyat claimed the final point with a late pass on Carlos Sainz Jnr, who pitted early due to high brake caliper temperatures on his McLaren. His team mate Lando Norris was the first driver to retire from the race, followed by Alexander Albon’s Toro Rosso.

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2019 Canadian Grand Prix reaction

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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349 comments on “Vettel penalty hands Hamilton Canadian Grand Prix victory”

  1. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    9th June 2019, 20:45

    What a joke.

    1. yes, vettel’s car was shouting ‘keep going, keep going, so he listened to the car instead of his brain as usual under pressure…

      1. @mysticus :) Sadly true.

        1. :) i hope you get the real joke :)

      2. That was yesterday, man! And it was a tremendous, flawless lap. HAM had the car to take the PP, but yesterday VET truly made the difference.

        1. Stop pedalling this.

          Watch the comparisons. Hamilton should have been closer, but the Ferrari was quicker over one lap.

          1. Just like all the times HAM was praised for some outstanding PP laps?! How come for HAM it wasn’t the car, but his performance… and never the same case with VET?! For VET it’s always the car. Come on, just statistically speaking it’s impossible to be the car in VET’s case.

          2. It may have been the case for VET at times in the past. It wasn’t this weekend.

            The fact HAM tends to do it more than VET is just that, but you can’t just pick and choose which ones they are.

    2. Anyone displeased about the outcome of today’s race should bear in mind that the catalyst for the controversy was Sebastian Vettel making yet another mistake while leading the race. Keep it on the road & he wins. End of. Everything that happened after is a direct result of him losing it under pressure again. No mistake, no debate. Any complaints, take them up with Seb.

      1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:27

        Yep, if Seb hadn’t made the mistake there would be no conversation.

        1. He still won the race, though.

          1. A detail some like to miss indeed.

          2. but he didn’t :)

          3. He didnt, he cheated to recover from his own mistake.

          4. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
            9th June 2019, 22:59

            Correcting oversteer is cheating now

          5. “He still won the race though”…

            Like Hamilton won Spa ’08… doesn’t really matter when the points get tallied. Vettel was awesome in qualifying & drove a great race. Almost faultless (right up to the point where he skittered off track all on his own). Up until that point he deserved to win, but that rule exists for the sole reason of preventing drivers from doing what he did. Hate the rule (and Stewards) if your adoration makes you feel justified, but that rule has been on the books for years. It one of those rules people only care about when their driver or team runs afoul of it.

          6. Hamilton at spa in 08 did not get a penalty for unsafe rejoin though he got a penalty for simply leaving the track! That was far worse.

            Vettel clearly rejoined unsafely and seemed to do it on purpose. However I am still a little sad at the penalty as it was a great drive by both Hamilton and vettel up to that point.

      2. Agree Seb made another mistake under pressure, deserves what he got, feel sorry for hulk who l am sure was asked to hold position on Ric also

    3. Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
      10th June 2019, 14:34

      Vettel’s defence was that he didn’t have anywhere else to go, intimating that he knew he was going to hinder Hamilton. He broke a rule. He drove onto the racing line after leaving the track and did not leave a cars width. This is a slam dunk penalty.

      The rule does not take into account mitigating circumstances and it does not take into account whether it is deliberate or not, it is a penalty regardless of intent.

    1. What was the outcome of that?

      1. No investigation.

      2. No penalty, nothing.

        1. They investigated, and the stewards concluded that Hamilton left a car’s width for Ricciardo’s car. So no penalty was warranted. Ricciardo was not alongside when Hamilton missed the chicane … if he was, then Hamilton would have had to give up the place. As it was, Hamilton missing the chicane there allowed Ricciardo to get a run on Hamilton towards Tabac. If he had to follow him through, his progress would have been checked.

          The penalty today was not for Seb cutting the corner … it was for an unsafe rejoining. My personal opinion of it is that it was a racing incident, and it was fine. Seb is naturally going to come to the outside after coming back on the track there, just b/c of how the track is there. Now the punishment shouldn’t really change depending on the outcome, but we all know it does in real life. If Seb had pushed Lewis into the wall, or made contact with him, and caused him to go out, then for sure it would have warranted a drive-through penalty.

          As it was, with the way that sequence of turns are, with walls on either side, there was no other way for Seb to go. There was no harm, so no foul in my opinion. I REALLY hate when results are not decided on the track … i.e. time penalties after the race change the order. This is the absolute worst thing for fans (both casual and ardent) to see. It just makes no sense to most people. I wish they had a penalty lane that would roughly correspond to 5 secs to go through. That way Seb could take his penalty in-race, and then have a chance to re-pass Lewis.

          I see that Ferrari are going to appeal. I hope they’re victorious in it.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 20:54

      @kingshark Oh come on. Completely different situation. That’s cutting the chicane and then Ricciarod tries to squeeze past after the next corner. Chicane cutting without consequence happens all the time. It was Rosberg’s signature move.

      On the other hand Hamilton did get a penalty for spinning off and then rejoining unsafely.

      1. @f1osaurus
        Hamilton cut the chicane when defending the inside line from Ricciardo, rejoins the track, and pushes Ricciardo into the wall. No penalty.

        1. But he didn’t push Ricciardo while rejoin the track. He was already owning the line to the moment.

          1. @regs
            That makes Hamilton’s actions worse. He pushed Ricciardo into the wall while he was in full control of his car, unlike Vettel.

            If Vettel today gets a 5 second penalty, Hamilton should have gotten a 10 second stop go for what he did at Monaco 2016.

          2. I hope you by that you mean he get off his car and physically push Ricciardo, otherwise yeah, he pushed him to the wall alright.

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 9:11

            @kingshark Try to understand the concept of racing line. As regs explains, Hamilton owned it.

        2. @kingshark hamilton didnt rejoin unsafely! he was on racing line and ric wasnt along side he was trying to squeeze there!

          in case u didnt watch today’s race incident, vettel left track, and rejoined completely unsafely he had the chance to lift off and get of the racing line since he complained he couldnt control the car, he should know when you slide of grass like that you dont hammer on the throttle! and continue to put the car along side into the wall! it was rubbish that he said he didnt see ham! his main excuse was he couldnt control the car than lift off!

          both separate incidents, cutting chicane 1 time has been explained and he didnt gain, more like ric got back to him faster but ham had the corner! more so ham’s car wasnt dancing like rattle snakes!

          1. @mysticus
            That makes Hamilton’s actions worse. He pushed Ricciardo into the wall while he was in full control of his car, unlike Vettel.

          2. @kingshark

            you are a funny guy…

          3. @mysticus
            You aren’t a very smart guy

          4. Hamilton was still behind Vettel when he rejoined, so the point is moot. Hamilton tried to squeeze through; it wasn’t Vettel Squeezing Hamilton against the wall.

            But of course, for Ham fans there will always be excuses.

          5. @kingshark
            you are so wise and the all knowing of course… the mighty…

          6. @bobec Regardless of whether you think Vettel deserved a penalty or not you can not honestly say that Hamilton was not severely impeded! He slammed on the brakes in order to not be squashed against the wall! If Vettel had not come across as far as he did then Hamilton would easily have passed him. The penalty decision is clearly contestable, the fact that Hamilton was impeded is simply a fact.

        3. Your recall of that incident is totally wrong. Hamilton wasn’t defending … Ricciardo wasn’t attacking into the chicane. He then left a car’s width on the outside of the track. Stewards specifically mentioned that in their ruling.

          I see someone else tried to use them as comparison points on YouTube. They are not the same sort of incident, at all.

      2. Lol. It’s excactly the same

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          9th June 2019, 21:13

          @kingshark, @rvg013 Vettel came back on track in an unsafe way. Hamilton cut the chicane in Monaco. He did not come back unsafely. He was in front of Ricciardo and only later Ricciardo came by

          Again, Hamilton actually got penalty for unsafe rejoining the track (Hungary). Did he get a 5 second penalty? No he got a drive-through penalty.

          1. @f1osaurus

            your argument is invalid, as all ham penalties are you know valid and unquestionable! he is born sinned and guilty! :) sarcasm

            vettel 2016 mexico… sums up vettel’s behaviour when he doesnt get what he wants, he throws everything out of the pram

          2. @f1osaurus
            Hungary 2011? You mean the race where he deliberately spun on the racing line to get his car pointing back in the right, and forced another car off the track in the process? Yeah, that was DT worthy.

      3. You are right, totally different: Hamilton was in full control when he tried to drive Ricciardo into the wall

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:04

          Yes exactly and he has the right to do so because he’s entitled to the racing line. Hence, no penalty or even an investigation.

          I knew someone would be able to understand.

    3. Fmercedes International Assistance

      1. That REALLY doesn’t work

    4. Neil (@neilosjames)
      9th June 2019, 21:12

      Don’t think today was a sure penalty but they’re totally different incidents. Always a full car width to Hamilton’s right and Ricciardo would have been able to pass if the bit of track hadn’t been exceptionally wet.

      1. @neilosjames

        Keep in mind exceeding Monaco track limits is impossible cause there’s a wall, it would impossible for Hamilton to leave less than a cars width if Ric is already there’s besides him.

    5. Slavisa (@sylversurferr)
      9th June 2019, 21:30

      Ih he didnt cut that shicane, he would lose position 100%. Obviously Stewards are favouring Mercedes when it comes to this situations.

      1. In Monaco? Get real. If anything, Hamilton cutting the chicane allowed Ricciardo to get a run on him. If he made the chicane, it’s single-file through there, so Ricciardo would have to be on the brakes.

        I wouldn’t have given a penalty yesterday, but let’s not start making up stuff.

    6. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:35

      https://youtu.be/cRTmuPOhaIA?t=49

      Verstappen unsafe rejoinign track. 5 second penalty plus points

      1. yep but they did touch. it was similar in the sense that Max had no space. But Kimi was basically beside him, Lewis today was still behind.

        1. @magon4
          watch it with those horse glasses taken off… ham was overtaking him if he didnt move unsafely like he did! ham just backed out of it since going in would cause a collision, he used his brain and took evasive action! unlike vettel, he always goes for it when the outcome is collision, he takes a gamble no matter what!
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhX-ZzPhzo

          1. oh boy.

        2. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:07

          @magon4 Hamilton was already besides Vettel when he came back onto the track (front wing alongside IS “alongside” according to the rules). The only reason they didn’t touch was because Hamilton braked.

          So because Raikkonen didn’t brake and just took the hit, Verstappen gets the penalty and Vettel shouldn’t? That really makes no sense.

      2. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
        9th June 2019, 22:19

        At no point was Max out of control of his car in that incident.

        Having made the mistake, Max could have made wiser decisions to mitigate its impact on other competitors.

        The difference being that I feel Seb did not have much opportunity to do anything different here.

        1. I beg to differ. Vettel continues to come across the track after he has rejoined it. He clearly left his foot down otherwise he would have been far slower coming back on, so he could have slowed and he could likely have not come as far across the track. I would have preferred a racing incident decision but I can also see the point the stewards are making. Basically if Hamilton had been slightly closer then Vettel would have hit him causing a potentially dangerous crash. You really ought to rejoin as safely as possible. If that means slowing down and losing a place then that is what you should do.

          1. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
            10th June 2019, 12:26

            Unsurprisingly, I disagree. Listening to the engine on the onboard I hear minimal throttle while on the grass. Any application of the throttle (or indeed the brakes) here was likely to send the car into a spin. His momentum was sending him in a direction over which he has little control.

            As he rejoins the track he bounces over the kerb at around about the same moment as he attempts to apply the throttle (you can hear the engine revs leap suddenly, because he has no traction). On landing the car is unstable, he is forced to correct this snap (steering into the spin) and it is this which sends him into Hamilton’s path.

            @f1osaurus my response to your comment is basically the same as above, based on Vettel’s onboard, I do not believe there was any unreasonable application of throttle.

          2. As soon as he was back on the track he tried to accelerate. That is the point. He could have gained full control before punching the accelerator and then he may well not have had the penalty. (He would however have lost the place)

        2. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:09

          @hammerheadgb Vettel simply could have not mashed the throttle. Vettel created that extra spot of oversteer by going on the throttle too early.

          Less throttle and he could simply have kept to the left. Yet, as he stated on the radio, he wanted to keep Hamilton behind and choose to go full out. Hence unsafe and hence rightly a penalty.

    7. Wow! @kingshark
      I was going to comment how vettel deserved a smaller time penalty but this completely changed my mind.
      I’ll add that Hamilton cut a tarmac chicane and was in full control of the car unlike vettel who went through grass at higher speed.

      1. isaac (@invincibleisaac)
        10th June 2019, 10:26

        In terms of the Monaco 2016 incident I can see the resemblance, but they are very different. If you pause the video at 0:10 you can see that Hamilton has rejoined safely and is in fact on the normal racing line. If you pause it again at 0:12 then you can see that there is more than a car width for Ricciardo on the right hand side – a much bigger gap than for yesterday’s incident. I think it’s different because Hamilton rejoined in a “safe” way but had lost momentum so defended the position, but at no point did he not leave RIC enough room in my opinion.

        Hamilton didn’t deserve a penalty for Monaco 2016, but Vettel also didn’t deserve one for yesterday either. What a shame.

  2. That’s the last race for me this year, see you in 2020.

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      9th June 2019, 20:59

      bye! :-p

    2. See ya then.

    3. Happy trails!

    4. thanx for that, one out of the million less salty comment until 2020…

      1. Oh, no watching the races leaves a lot more time for salty comments, believe me :P

    5. Lord Marbles
      10th June 2019, 0:51

      Aye whatever.,,,.

    6. See you in two weeks x

    7. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out…

  3. What a sore loser Vettel is being.

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 20:56

      He’s actually pretty good at throwing away wins though. It’s not his first this season. Bahrain he had the fastest car and could/should have won (considering Leclerc’s technical issue).

      1. @f1osaurus
        Mercedes had by far the best race pace today. Hamilton messed up at the hairpin line 4 or 5 times and was easily able to close the gap to Vettel again after every mistake, and run in his dirty air without losing cornering performance. If we ignore FIA intervention, Vettel beat Hamilton today with a clearly inferior car.

        1. @kingshark So inferior he did not get fastest lap Ferrari were holding it. So superoiour Bottas was 20 seconds down the road from his teammate so superiour that Ferrari is way faster on the straights. So do tell how Hamilton should have overtaken. Or you telling me Vettel was in a slower car yesterday aswell? Boy would i love Ham to have been in that Ferrari last year.

        2. 1. Bottas was stuck in traffic for most of the race. Once in clean air his pace was great.

          2. Leclerc got fastest lap because he pitted later than the Mercedes drivers

          1. Dan isn’t thinking rn. He is fuming.

          2. Bottas got fastest lap.

        3. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:18

          @f1osaurus Hamiltonw as driving in dirty air behind Vettel. So what that he had a few lockups. He kept it on the race track and he kept the pressure on until Vettel eventually cracked.

          Vettel gets the tow from Lecelrc in Q3 and he gets the pole. Fine, but then learn to keep it together on race day.

          Vettel yet again cracked under pressure and wasted a good race result. Second race he lost this season alone where he had the faster car and still couldn’t hold it together (Bahrain + Canada)

          Seven races he blundered away last year and two already this year. His average is one blundered race out of three.

          He’s an embarrassment to Ferrari and to the sport in general. If Ferrari had a capable driver in that car then 2017 and 2018 would have been theirs. Then all this complaining about “predictable” would be gone.

    2. Dean Reynolds
      9th June 2019, 20:58

      Agreed

  4. A 50-50 incident. Gasly’s pace, though.

    1. But stroll!!
      Really strong, with a great pass as a bonus.

  5. Great penalty, keep the car on the track.

      1. Thats amazingly bad, at least someone got a penalty for it now and i do hope they stick with it in the future.

        1. what makes you so cruel that you have to penalise so harshily anyone who makes the tiniest mistake in an otherwise amazing performance throughout the weekend? They were on edge, stuff happens. Perez they didn’t even look at. And that was fair, imo. This was yet again an overly harsh penalty for otherwise a rather spicy racing incident.

          1. What did Perez do? @njoydesign I think I missed that one.

          2. @njoydesign
            Cruel? He cracked under pressure of defending his place and took it out on Hamilton. That runoff is there for his safety and Vettel honors that by pushing Hamilton into a wall on reentry. Overtaking in this sport is hard enough as it is and certainly wont be helped by letting anyone defending skip corners as they se fit.

          3. @rethla
            Oh it’s a race, they were going through those corners at the speeds we can only dream of. Do you really think they have time to calculate all of that during a snap, whilst also in the midst of a great fight? It could’ve been a nice weekend for the championship and the whole of Formula 1. What we got was… what we got.

          4. @hugh11
            He barged quite ruthlessly past one of the Haases iirc

          5. @njoydesign
            What we got is so much better than if Vettel had won by cutting corners. As someone here said Rosberg perfected that cheat and thats one of the reasons why i never liked him. DRS passes and corner cutting aint the fights i want to see.

      2. how many times are you going to copy paste the same unrelated incident?

        1. @mysticus
          When are you ever going to post something useful?

        2. i did some but then you are wearing the horse glasses always looking at the rubbish you are posting… there are a lot of precedents of the incident which all got the same penalties… so what is your point of in the argument like a broken looping tape…

          hamilton’s case was he cut the corner of the initial chicane and didnt gain anything, besides, he was on the racing line in control of the car, and also he left the car width, moreso ric didnt have a chance to get along side!

          here for your silly argument sake, vettel cut the whole chicane but that was not the issue, he chose squeeze hamilton to wall when he was along side, and he continued to do so and made it look like he was wrestling the car, which he was but not because of the chicane, but because of choosing to accelerate when shouldnt esp when you claim you were not able to control the car, he knew very well where ham was, and he chose to close the door…

          ham driving on the racing line in your video link, but you bloody fail to see vettel wasnt, he only ended up on racing line in an uncontrolled fashion while maneuvering very dangerously towards a collision!

          covering racing line is not a new thing, in case you just started watching f1 today, but covering racing line like vettel did, is dangerous driving, and you learnt that maybe today. so get over it, and move on… because a lot of people got penalties for the “same kind of incident” which your video link is “not”

          in case you keep defending vettel, watch his 2016 mexico race’s last laps and see if you can spot his behaviour!

      3. F1oSaurus (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:37

        That’s a completely different situation. Hamilton coems back safely in front of Ricciardo. Ricciardo then tries a pass and Hamilton takes the line.

        How about this for a proper example of unsafe rejoining:
        https://youtu.be/cRTmuPOhaIA?t=49

        Verstappen unsafely rejoining track. 5 second penalty plus points

        1. Verstappen was in complete control of his car… Vettel wasn’t!

          1. Rubbish, look at the images. Even his tires were green, he had just like Vettel no options. The difference was he touched kimi.

        2. @f1osaurus
          Hamilton cut the chicane when he was defending the inside line from Ricciardo, rejoins the track ahead (he should have been behind), pushes Ricciardo into the wall, and gets nothing.

          Mercedes really do own the stewards.

          1. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 9:22

            @kingshark Hamilton was ahead of Ricciardo and stayed ahead of Ricciardo. Like I said, chicane cutting keeping the lead happens all the time nothing new.

            Hamilton enters the track onto the left. No a single issue there.

            He then continues on to the next corner where he has the racing line and rightfully squeezes Ricciardo who is trying to take the racing line from him.

            You simply need to learn to understand the rules. They are not that hard to understand, but when you think a driver moving right a corner after he safely entered the track towards the left, is unsafely rejoining the track then you have got to be kidding me.

          2. @f1osaurus
            Hamilton cuts the corner and squeezes Ricciardo into the wall to stop his momentum.

            Vettel cuts the corner and squeezes Hamilton into the wall to stop his momentum.

            The difference is entirely in your head.

            You are obviously a huge fan of Hamilton and therefore you will obviously try to justify every decision that goes in his favour, that’s normal, but this one is unjustifiable.

            Every single racing driver who has actually driven an F1 car before (Ricciardo, Webber, Mansell, Chandok, Brundle, Button) agrees that it was a poor decision.

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 10:07

            @kingshark

            Hamilton cuts the corner and squeezes Ricciardo into the wall to stop his momentum.

            Hamilton needed to stop his momentum going to the LEFT! That’s where he rejoined.

            Hamilton squeezed Ricciardo a corner later, because he owned the racing line and that is allowed.

            Yes other drivers “agree” that the feel it was a poor decision because they feel it ruined the race. So what? Where were these people when Verstappen got his penalty in Japan 2018?

          4. @f1osaurus

            Hamilton squeezed Ricciardo a corner later, because he owned the racing line and that is allowed.

            You do not “own” the racing line. Ricciardo had his front wheel alongside/ahead of Hamilton’s rear wheel and is therefore entitled to space.

            Yes other drivers “agree” that the feel it was a poor decision because they feel it ruined the race. So what?

            Wrong, other drivers disagree because there is nothing Vettel could have done differently to rejoin the track.

            So what? Where were these people when Verstappen got his penalty in Japan 2018?

            What Verstappen did that race was deliberate, unlike today.

          5. F1oSaurus (@)
            11th June 2019, 17:56

            @kingshark

            You do not “own” the racing line.

            FFS YES YOU DO! That’;s why no one gets penalized for squeezing drivers off the ravcing line. While numbnuts like you keep pretending that is unfair. If it suits them.

            Wrong, other drivers disagree because there is nothing Vettel could have done differently to rejoin the track.

            Nonsense. Listen to the clip. vettel is accelerating right away as he leaves the grass. Instead of overloading his tyres with acceleartin,he should have taking avoiding action.

            The stewards noted this also and penalized him for it. Simple as that.

            Also see the vidio of Schuamcher and Kunica going off in the same corner and following exactly the line that Vettel shoudl have been following.

            What Verstappen did that race was deliberate, unlike today.

            What Vettel did was 10% deliberate. That’s why he got the penalty.

            He was checking his mirrors to see where hamilton was and he moved further right AFTER he regained control of his car.

            Stop making excuses for this blundering embarrassment of an F1 driver. Vettel blundered away the 2017 title (AZE, CAN, SIN, GBR, MEX) and 2018 again (AZE, FRA, AUT, GER, ITA, JPN and USA).

            In 2019 he’s now thrown away a win in Bahrain and again one in Canada. Even the driving the fastest car is not enough for Vettel. He blunders anyway.

            So he’s well on his way to wasting yet another opportunity. Although this season he’s just showing he cannot get Ferrari on the right track and their setup and development is a mess.

      4. Why should he? He was ahead and defended his line. Ricciardo was never likely to pass at that point and no one hit anyone or anything. That is very different to a dangerous rejoin. You see that all the time in F1 races (Including every year at Monaco) and I am not sure anyone has ever been penalised for it.

        Also lets not forget that Hamilton has been the victim of what was possibly the most harsh stewarding decision of them all in Spa 08! I have never seen another driver before or since punished for the same thing yet it happens almost every race and happened with other drivers in Spa 08 too…

      5. I think you need to reread the stewards decision for that incident at Monaco ’16. The two incidents are not comparable.

    1. This is Formula 1 not third grader’s karting, no matter how much effort some are putting in turning it into a child’s game.

  6. What a disgrace for a sport this

    I’m absolutely no Ferrari fan, but this penalty is ridiculous. He effectively got punished for missing the corner and trying to keep his car out of the wall.

    1. The only thing missing is a wall where he went off.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:19

      @anunaki, Vettel got the penalty for losing control of his car and instead of coming back in a safe manner, he came back full throttle sliding his car all over the road almost putting Hamilton into the wall.

      He could have come back safely on track without drifting and keeping his car under control. Of course then he would have lost the position. Which he didn’t want to happen

      So Vettel choose his approach and the stewards rewarde him with a penalty. A rather lenient one really, since Hamilton once got a drive-through penalty for unsafe rejoining the track.

      1. I’ve seen many such incidents in my 30 years watching F1. This should not have been penalized. It should have been, race on!

      2. He could have come back safely on track without drifting and keeping his car under control.

        No way he could. He got on the grass with all 4 wheels and did all he could not to spin or hit the wall. If you don’t believe me, ask all these (ex) drivers on social media

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:23

          @anunaki Yes way he could. Simply not put his foot full down on the throttle like he did.

          Vettel actually said on the radio that he did it to keep Hamilton behind. He did it on purpose!

          1. @f1osaurus you can argue about Vettel’s control of the car, but saying that he put his foot full down on the throttle is simply a lie. Watch the replays in F1’s YouTube channel.

          2. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 10:03

            @warheart Yes I did. You see his car oversteering because he’s giving it too much throttle.

            Plus Vettel said that he “had” to keep Hamilton on the radio. So it’s quite clear he did what he did on purpose.

          3. @f1osaurus the car oversteered because of pure inertia when the front wheels got grip in the tarmac while the rear wheels were in the grass with no grip.

            Can you quote the exact radio message from Vettel? Because I’m listening again and there’s no such message.

      3. Yes, he should have stopped, looked left and right for traffic and then proceeded cautiasly ata steady pace. You’re watching the wrong sport mate.

    3. Vettel should count himself lucky. Senna got disqualified for missing the corner once.
      :)

      1. Senna also received a large fine along with suspension of Super licence after the said corner cutting. On another note Vettel had behaved similarly or worse than yesterday after events of Mexican GP of 2016, Azerbaijan GP 2017 and Brazilian GP 2018. He never accepts his mistakes and whats surprising is that Limping horses are backing him up even after such repeated public humiliation displays by the petulant child.

    4. Yeah as he should cos he tried to push Hamilton into the the wall.

    5. (@anunaki)

      Vettel choked (as ever) and should have given up the lead. He rejoined in a dangerous manner to avoid giving up the position (which he subsequently confirmed on the radio). Open and shut case.

    6. Vettel should have controlled his ego and ceded the lead at the point he went off. Instead his huge ego got the better of him and he tried to force a collision with Ham on re-entry. I don’t know what form of motorsport you think allows such driving?

  7. How to ruin a race,

  8. Harsh. Very harsh, shades of Spa 2008.

    There’s a point where he turns his wheel to the right. Just once, and just a jerk as a natural part of trying to keep control.

    Have they seen that and used that as justification, however unfairly?

    1. I agree it was very harsh but lets be real here…VET kept his foot in too much…on the grass=off the accelerator. Still…ion reality it was harsh. What goes around comes around…isn’t that Sebs great saying? This came around for Lewis today from 08. Still…chin up VET

      1. I don’t think he did leave his foot in too much tbh. Given the bumpiness of the runoff & rejoining the track, I’d imagine that if he was too hard on the throttle, the car would’ve spun.

        1. If he had any throttle on at all before he’d regained control then I’d say it was his fault @hugh11

          That’s what we need to know to judge it correctly

    2. @nikkit
      Spa 2008 was better because we still had a race to the end, then Hamilton was penalised.
      Today, the race ended with the penalty announcement as Hamilton was never gonna attempt an overtake when he just had to follow.

    3. How is that anything like Spa 08? At Spa, Hamilton was punished with a 25 second penalty for simply leaving the track! If we apply the same rules to this race then Vettel got off very lightly!

  9. This season Mercedes will beat all the records and the number of viewers will ultimately also set a new record. The penalty destroyed the tension of this duel, sadly.

    1. Viewership going up after this farce. You must be kidding.

      1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:35

        Seb making mistakes then having tantrums makes great viewing…

      2. Sridhar: I think he’s implying a record low number of viewers! Probably not far wrong either.

    2. Penalty did destroy the tension but the person to blame was Seb for scewring up and then trying to push Hamilton into a wall.

      1. “Trying”? You mean he intentionally tried to push Hamilton? Not even the stewards said that!

  10. Respect for Seb making a stand.

    Hams constant crying over the radio makes him so unlikable and why he’ll never be one of the greats. A Mansell or Senna would have done their talking on the track.

    1. You are wrong about Lewis.

    2. I respect Seb and thought his behavior was fine, but Hamilton didn’t do anything bad either– the only people to blame are the stewards. Hamilton gets it.

      1. As a Ferrari and Vettel fan, Hamilton did absolutely nothing wrong. He raced hard and yes, if you are a purist (like we all, including stewards, should be), he won fair and square. The problem is then when the stewards apply the rules quite differently for different pilots and teams. So, if the standard so far has been to let such incidents go, then the standard applied here should have been the same. If the rule was you leave the track, you leave the position to the car behind (as it should be, I think), than it’s all fair. But when you have a different standard for one team and driver and another for others, then that’s a problem. If Ham can do the same at Monaco and get no penalty, if Ham goes into the pit lane and comes out and gets no penalty and many other such examples, then that’s not right.

    3. The penalty is patently wrong and unfair, but it’s NOT fair to blame Hamilton for complaning. They are racing for a world Championship. The game is played the way its been designed, and penalties are part of the game. It’s every racer’s duty to complain promptly whenever reasonable it might lead to something.

      He raced well, and won un unfair race through no fault of his own.

      Blame the rules and the judges.

      1. As much as I think the penalty was wrong, the people ragging on Hamilton are just laughable and showing their bias – not surprising considering the previous posts made by them.

        Hamilton was on the radio just once, to say ‘he almost put him in the wall’, if the situations were reversed Vettel would have only been doing the same.

        From Hamilton’s POV. Vettel came right across on him. He isn’t aware of how Vettel was wrestling with the wheel and an investigation is pretty much standard in that situation, especially at a track like Canada where there’s such tight areas.

        The penalty however, is not standard and was unneccesary. And I do say that as a Hamilton fan.

        1. ColonelBlimp
          9th June 2019, 21:45

          This guy understands, anything else is just fanboyism
          2008 is irrelevant.

    4. Yes, you are right Gulp. Hamilton should be condemned because you don’t like him. And we should turn a blind eye to Vettel’s off track excursion , his behavior post race, and the fact he cant get a 5s gap when leading. And we should blame Hamilton because err, well he’s Hamilton.

    5. Hamilton tried to do his talking on the track though. He could’ve just backed off and stayed within the window, but I think he knew the penalty wasn’t deserved and wanted to try for the legitimate win on track. You’ve gotta at least respect that.

      1. imagine how much fan-karma he would get if he backed 5s off at the end of last lap? Just wondering… :)

        1. Nice dream, but no driver would do this in this situation. Seb wouldn’t have is it were reversed.

    6. Gulp…you are wrong on this occasion. Deb feels rightly hard done by but Lewis has been there. First thing he said on the radio was “We don’t want to win like this…”
      He was also right I saying “had there been no wall I would have passed”

      1. Had there been no wall there would have been grass

    7. Hamilton is already one of the greats no matter what his haters think of him.

    8. The only one crying today was Vettel. I have no idea how you guys can even mention Lewis’s whining when it comes to Vettel. Vettel is also a baby.

  11. Liberty Media really wants to hand the WDC to Hamilton. Can’t wait for the day Kimi retires so I can stop following this laughable excuse of a sport.

    1. Liberty media, heading up the FIA stewarding office.

  12. Of course there was no malice in Vettel’s actions and of course it wasn’t on purpose but it doesn’t matter. He gets the penalty for entering the track in an unsafe manner, there is no discussion abut that.

    1. Vettel got a penalty for making an error. As soon as he made the error, he was just trying to avoid the wall.

      Cannot believe that all the money and effort is being put to keep F1 relevant and they shoot themself into foot by destroying the essence of racing. That was a very bad decision for F1.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:24

        @blackbox

        If Vettel would have tried to avoid the wall he could have not gone full throttle and stayed on the left of the track instead.

        1. but he saw the gap. and if he didn’t go for the gap, he wouldn’t have been able to call himself a racing driver ;)

          1. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 10:10

            @magon4 Vettel claimed he saw nothing and didn’t know Hamilton was there. “Er hat es nicht gewusst” …

          2. He never claimed such a thing. Actually, he said quite the contrary.

  13. To me everyone is missing the point here. I agree the penalty was harsh but Vettel had nowhere to go because he was out of control. If you make a mistake and you’re out of control don’t you deserve to lose a place when your opponent is so close behind? I don’t see this the same as spa 2008

    1. Exactly

    2. Yup, you’ve got it spot on.

      1. How close is too close behind though?

        1. exactly.

    3. @sw280
      It’s almost a shame that Seb didn’t spin on rejoining, then Hamilton have nowhere to go and collect him…
      Would have been an unfortunate accident that no one could avoid, without all this fallout.
      Would have been interesting for the championship too. Ah well.

      1. @eurobrun

        it s a shame you are still commenting and do the right thing, come back in 2020 since you guys will complain until the new regulations…

    4. Exactly right! Vettel braked too late or too little, overcooked it, and went off the track. Once you go off the track your right to the place you have in a race comes with Terms and Conditions. He didn’t have an automatic right to his old place. There’s a basic obligation to avoid crashing into your competitors or doing other things that will spoil their race when you’ve strayed off the track and a trying to rejoin the race. In this case he actually nearly wiped out Hamilton. It was Vettel’s responsibility to avoid crashing into Hamilton. He didn’t do that. Admittedly it was all happening very fast, but that doesn’t excuse him from at least trying to avoid crashing into Hamilton.
      Disappointing for Ferrari? Yes, but he went home with second place.

      1. @drycrust

        I think you’ve summed up my position. I’ll add that passing is already difficult so allowing moves like Vettel’s leads to more processional races.

  14. F1oSaurus (@)
    9th June 2019, 20:59

    Yet again Vettel cracks under pressure. Of course it’s everybody else’s fault but his own.

    1. Hey man, I don’t quite know why I still bother. But he did admit to his mistake after the race and said that he would have probably lost the lead if it had happened at any other corner. This is the Vettel I’ve been watching for over a decade now – it is a myth that he doesn’t own up to his mistakes. He just doesn’t agree that the mistake at that point should have cost him the race in that manner, is all.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        10th June 2019, 9:29

        @magon4 Are you kidding me? He admits to doing nothing wrong!! While on the radio he said he had to do what he did to keep Hamilton behind. He knew what he was doing and did it on purpose.

        Yet he keeps on saying that he did nothing wrong. Ferrari are even going to appeal the stewards decision.

        1. Becasue the decision might be the letter of the law, but it is not good for the sport. Same thing 2008 Spa. Not good for the sport.

          1. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 10:15

            @magon4 The problem with Spa 2008 was that one guy single handedly created his own interpretation of the rules just so he could penalize a non-Ferrari driver. He simply added that drivers could not attack the next corner. Which had never been the case before.

            Besides, Hamilton was ahead going into the corner and Raikkonen should have been penalized for pushing Hamilton off instead.

            It might not be good for the sport that Vettel keeps blundering Ferrari wins away (also Bahrain this season plus many in 2017 and 2018), but why complain about the stewards then? Complain about Ferrari keeping this guy in their car? Not only that, but they keep giing Vettel preferntial treatment. This race they gave Vettel the tow and therefore the pole.

  15. On the other hand it was only a 5 second penalty – it could have been disqualification for not covering the race distance and a 6 month ban for dangerous driving… (McLaren ‘89 for those of you not old enough). (Joke)

  16. Sigh, correct decision. Vettel was pushed into a mistake, he went off track and came back onto the racing line. It’s irrelevant whether he had control of the car or not – he gained the advantage of keeping a position his mistake should have cost. People (including Sky commentators) need to grow up.

      1. So? What’s your stunning argument? Hamilton should have got a penalty for that incident? Probably. But not Vettel for today’s?

        1. @David BR

          Well said, +1. @Kingshark has failed to recognise that HAM probably should have had a penalty in Monaco- but the most similar incident is VERS/Kimi in Suzuka to which VERS got a penalty. Unsurprisingly @Kingshark isn’t responding to that VERS/Kimi incident throughout this thread.

      2. F1oSaurus (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:39

        That’s a completely different situation. Hamilton comes back safely in front of Ricciardo. Ricciardo then tries a pass and Hamilton takes the racing line.

        How about this for a proper example of unsafe rejoining:
        https://youtu.be/cRTmuPOhaIA?t=49

        Verstappen unsafely rejoining track. Going all the way across (instead of staying on the safe side) with Raikkonen next to him. 5 second penalty plus points

      3. Have you actually watched this video you keep posting? Hamilton leaves a cars width for Ricciardo. My god your lack of knowledge here is outstanding!

    1. Correct.

    2. Suffering Williams Fan
      9th June 2019, 21:14

      I agree. I found the “he wasn’t in control of his car” argument bizarre. Nonetheless, I think an interesting addition to this would be to know a bit more about Vettel’s throttle inputs during the incident. A few people seem to be assuming there was nothing more that Vettel could do (ultimately irrelevant anyway I think), but did he keep his foot in on the grass? Could he have have backed out (more) to have better control on re-entry (presumably losing the place on track as a consequence)? I hope we get a bit more detail.

      1. My immediate impression was that he had his foot down still, which was why he failed to keep control of the steering and keep off the racing line. Basically he cut diagonally across the track leaving Hamilton nowhere to go. As he did have the option of lifting/braking (and yes losing the place) then the penalty is right.

        The point is that the race was good precisely because Hamilton had Vettel under intense pressure. The fact he forced a mistake meant he really deserved the win. It’s those fine margins that count. I’d have been just as annoyed had Vettel got away with keeping the place in that fashion.

        1. Jonathan Edwards
          9th June 2019, 21:32

          Your immediate impression is useless, as you have no clue what his foot was doing. He certainly wasn’t flat on the throttle, or he’d have immediately spun. You don’t think Hamilton was being slightly risky by going for a disappearing gap in one of the narrowest sections of the track?

          1. Your immediate impression is useless

            Obviously, yet you presume that your opinion beats that of the stewards with the telemetry?

      2. i have a feeling that played a hand on the decision stewards handed out… and Stewards has some pro/experienced drivers among them too…

        1. No. None of the stewards involved were pro drivers experienced in driving these cars around this track.

    3. Jonathan Edwards
      9th June 2019, 21:16

      Get real. People have made mistakes and maintained their position multiple races in every season without penalty.

      1. This ^^

        If Lewis was 10 seconds behind, should Vettel have slowed down to let Lewis pass. No.

      2. Sebastian went off the track. Whether he was in complete control of his car or not is beside the point, once you go off the track your rights as competitor change. Why should competitors who stay on the track have to give way to someone who strays off the track? When he was on the track he had a right to defend his place, but once he went off the track he lost that right. Instead Lewis’s rights come into play, amongst which are that Sebastian has to yield right of way to him because he is on the track and Sebastian wasn’t. The onus was on Sebastian to make sure he rejoined the track without jeopardising Lewis’s race. He didn’t do that and got a penalty.

    4. it didnt cost him the position, though. So maybe the gap was enough. I would say it was almost a 50-50 decision, and given the context (track, position at track and fight for win), they should have gone for the option: race on!

  17. Vettel could have used the brake pedal instead of planting the throttle and going for the racing line. Why should Lewis be stopped from passing a driver who cant stay on the road. He made the mistake, ran his opponent out of road and it would have been unjust for that to have no action. This is Vettel’s fault at the end of the day, not the stewards or Hamilton.

  18. Lost in all of this is yet another time Vettel cracks under pressure. Vettel choked yet again under pressure. He gave the stewards a decision he nearly lost it twice lol. Hamilton made 2 mistakes in places he knows he can take a risk with braking. Vettel just absoloutely folds under pressure.

  19. This is just ridiculous. I truly hope Ferrari appeals this penalty and is succesful in getting it overturned. On-board footage clearly shows him turning his steering wheel left when he rejoins the track while the car continues to slide right. He never intentionally steered into Hamilton’s line.

    1. No such thing as appealing an in-race decision.

      1. The official document for the penalty literally states they have the right to appeal. And they did.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:31

          The official document says they have the right to appeal “some” decisions.

  20. Vettel got pressured into an error lol. He is a huge choker.

    1. Great politician indeed.

    2. Sorry, I thought you were reffering to HAM’s comment.

      Disagree. I don’t think that mistake was because of pressure (HAM wasn’t even that close to try overtake him at that stage), but because his car did not perform as good anymore. It was obvious to me that Ferrari lost it after equipping the Hards. Overall, Mercedes was the better car in race trrim.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:26

        @mg1982 Vettel was under pressure and Vettel made a mistake. Again! Just like in Baku and how he lost the WDC’s in 2017 and 2018.

        1. Mmmm, not really. In 2017 Ferrari did not have the car to win any of the champs! They lacked speed and reliability too, therefore no chance. It still amazes me some people still talk about 2017. In 2018 things got better, probably the champs could have been decided in the last race or so had Ferrari/VET had a flawless season, but still Mercedes had the better car overall.

          1. @mg1982

            it amazes me that people who doesnt know what evasive action means argues about cars at all…

          2. Wrong again. They had the car in 17 and definitely in 18.

            Your biased narratives that have been disproven are highly amusing, and won’t rewrite history no matter how much you try.

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 9:36

            @mg1982 During 2017, Vettel blundered in Baku, Canada, Singapore, Silverstone and Mexico.

            Baku, Canada and Singapore already cost him 57 points while he was only 46 points behind in the WDC.

            Vettel’s blunders are what make Ferrari look slow. Just about every time he’s up for a win and he comes under some pressure, he chokes and crashes.

  21. Spa 2008….

    1. What about it?

  22. Just one thing….Pathetic.

    1. why are you reflecting?

  23. Harsh.
    This race ended not the way anyone wanted.

    I am conflicted about this and really feel for Seb.
    I am happy for Lewis, but I don’t like or greatly enjoy this win.

    1. Truth is, not even Hamilton can really be too happy about all this

  24. OK This is now borderline insane… according to Italian media it seems like he’s also being given 2 penalty points on his license… If this is confirmed, this really is madness.

    1. it is in the articles:

      The stewards ruled “car five [Vettel] left the track at turn three, rejoined the track at turn four in an unsafe manner and forced car 44 off track.

      “Car 44 had to take evasive action to avoid a collision,” the added.

      Vettel has now collected seven penalty points for the current 12-month period.

      1. Forced car 44 off track?! How come?!?!

      2. Also… Car 44 had to take evasive action to avoid a collision? How come?! Since when hitting the brakes is an evasive action when driving a car in general?

        1. @mg1982
          “Since when hitting the brakes is an evasive action when driving a car in general?” do you drive car at all? if yes, please delete your comment… anything that you do to avoid a collision is evasive action, not going left or right only… since you cant fly in a car (not regular ones of course) you either brake or steering to an available/safe side is evasive action aka avoiding an accident/collision!

          1. can’t believe you replied to him.

        2. Since when hitting the brakes is an evasive action when driving a car in general?

          Hahahaha really? Hahahahahahahah hahahahaha I knew your comments were generally dumb but…. Hahahahahahahah. That’s made my week thank you!

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:41

      How so? It was borderline insane to come back on track like that. Verstappen also got a 5 second penalty and points for his unsafe rejoining (on Raikkonen) last year in Japan

      1. Not comparable. Verstappen deliberately steered into and collided with Räikkönen back then. Vettel did not steer into Hamilton’s line tonight. He steered to the left, but the car slid to the right.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:38

          That’s exactly what Vettel did. He kept his foot in and he steered right over to the racing line where he knew Hamilton would be. The car over steered because he was to hard on the throttle.

          His main aim was to keep Hamilton behind. Vettel said so himself on the radio!

          1. I suggest you watch the onboard again. He did not keep his foot in it. You can clearly hear that from the engine and can see that on the rev LED’s on the wheel. He starts feeding in power at the 24 second mark ;) I am a DR fan btw so I am partial. Stop spreading BS.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhX-ZzPhzo

  25. I reckon there’s some wrongdoing in VET’s move, but overall is a harsh penalty. What he was supposed to do, hit the brakes and cruise at 80kmh until it’s safe to join the track?

    HAM is complaining too much, that’s why he has a side that is very unlikeable. Plus, saying he pushed VET into the mistake… he should become a politician as soon as he retires from F1. Mercedes hadthe better car in race trim anyway. I’m pretty sure HAM would have drove into distance if would have lead the race after the 1st lap.

    1. What he was supposed to do, hit the brakes and cruise at 80kmh until it’s safe to join the track?

      If necessary, yes is the answer. By maintaining throttle the minimum he was obliged to do was stay off the racing line. He failed to do that because he maintained throttle. So the penalty is correct.

    2. Yes, he should have rejoined safely, and if he couldn’t, because of the speed he was carrying l, he should expect a penalty. Why is this hard for knowledgeable fans of the sport to grasp?

      1. Have you tried applying your brakes hard enough to slow down at over 100mph while driving over grass?

        1. Sebastian shouldn’t have been on the grass.

      2. @david-br, @f1bobby: I agree if we go strictly by the book. That’s why I said (and agree) that there’s some fault on VET’s side. But… going 100% by the book it’s killing the racing, especially if we’re talking about giving up on 1st place because of a small mistake. We’ve seen some big fights for the 10th place, do you expect a racing driver to give up on 1st place that easy? To me it was more like a racing incident OR some hard racing… so, let it be. Racing these days is using too much stuff related to road relevancy. Not racing anymore.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          9th June 2019, 21:42

          @mg1982 What’s “killing the racing” if anything, it’s Vettel’s inability to keep his car under control when things get close.

        2. @mg1982
          I really didn’t expect Vettel to effectively slam the door shut. As he came back on track, I presumed he’d give Hamilton space on the right and we’d see a race to the next corner, Hamilton probably passing with the extra momentum. When Lewis had to brake to avoid the collision, it just looked a clear penalty to me. Had Vettel managed to leave space and still keep the position, no.

          As I said elsewhere, the point is that this was real racing and Vettel was forced into a mistake. He kept the place through dangerous driving, forcing Hamilton into evasive braking. I really don’t get how that’s not a clear penalty.

          1. @david-br
            “Since when hitting the brakes is an evasive action when driving a car in general?” this is his comment, and you are taking him too seriously like i did earlier…

          2. Because there was no malice/intention from Vettel. He kept steering to the left upon rejoining the track, but the car slid through to the right. Look at the on board footage. He did not intentionally cut ahead of Hamilton.

    3. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:30

      @mg1982 Lol, YES! He should rejoin in a safe way. You got it!

      Hamilton was so close behind that he was immediately next to Vettel. Much closer is virtually impossible.

      Just stop making excuses for Vettel blundering away yet another race. if it happens once then ok, but it’s already the second blunder in this season and previous season he blundered in 7 races. It’s a quite common theme.

      1. @f1osaurus

        Proves what a great racer he is. His car is nowhere near as good on its tires as the Merc. Mistakes are expected if you’re gonna push like Vettel does.
        Oh and this was the driver who was finished thanks to Leclerc.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          9th June 2019, 21:44

          All Vettel had to do was keep it on track. Yet again he failed to do so though. He blew a race win in Bahrain spinning off clumsily and in Vanada he did it again. It’s just sad to see the team place themselves behind someone so poor at racecraft.

          If they had given Leclerc the tow then he might have gotten pole and won the race. It’s Ferrari who decides who performs well.

  26. Whether or not you agree with the penalty, the race would have been better without it.

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:45

      @gusty Really? The race was quite boring. If this penalty hadn’t happened no one would have remembered it.

      1. Better for the Ferrari fans he meant to say.

      2. What I mean is without the penalty there would have been a race for the lead which is what we all want to see. Once the penalty was applied the race was neutralized as all Hamilton had to do was follow Vettel with no incentive to overtake which killed what could have been an epic battle.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:41

          @gusty Well clearly Hamilton was still trying to get past.

          The thing is Hamilton didn’t have a chance to get past since the Ferrari is much faster on the straights. So the only thing he could do was pressure Vettel into a mistake. Which is what he did and what happened.

          It would have been nice if Vettel had played fairly and actually let the battle happen instead of blocking Hamilton off like that. But yeah. Vettel has his red mist moments. He rather crashes into other cars than actually think reasonably and battle fairly.

  27. Failure on Ferrari to not protest better and a massive disappointment for all f1 fans no matter who you cheer for

    1. i’m an F1 fan and i’m good with the decision.

  28. So Vettel makes a slip -up outdriving Lewis for most of the race in an inferior car and lesser team.
    He’s my driver of the weekend. I guess he’s not popular for all the other times he made Lewis look average.
    Awesome pole too.

    1. Do not know if it’s sarcasm or your true opinion, but I agree with the part where VET raced in an inferior car most of the race.

    2. Lol pressured into another error again lol by Hamilton. How many now is this. Hamilton beat Vettel in car very equal last year or did you forget? So Hamilton won a title with not the best car unlike youre boy ever did(Alonso).

      1. @dan

        So Hamilton won a title with not the best car unlike youre boy ever did(Alonso).

        Ohh, sensitive. I’m not a Vettel fan btw.
        Totally rubbish that Ferrari was faster last season. Lewis went through a stage of not getting the tires to work when Bottas started beating him, and the Hamilton defence force as always tried to claim Ferrari was faster. Vettel dropped hints there were problems with the car, stating it was difficult to drive, then was silenced. As this year he again said the Merc is better on its tires. The drivers arnt thick.

        1. F1oSaurus (@)
          9th June 2019, 21:49

          Vettel blundered 7 races away. This cost him well over 100 points. Some estimates even put it at over 130. Just not blundering so much and vettel would have had the title.

          For instance, Baku (fastest car) P5, Germany (fastest car) in the wall 0 points, Austria (Fastest car after merc DNFs) only P3 (because he landed himself a dumb penalty), Monza (in fastest car) P4, USA (fastest car) P4 for Vettel because of dumb penalty and crash. etc etc etc

          Vettel just made that Ferrari look poor.

          1. He didn’t have the fastest car in Monza or USA. In Austria the penalty wasn’t his fault (misinformed by team and both Bottas and Hamilton were not penalized for similar offences at different races) and in Baku the team blew with the strategy allowing Bottas to take advantage of a Safety Car. The Ferrari was just not as good as some believe and as always Merc didn’t even push theirs to the maximum. The could have gotten out even more if Ferrari was more consistent.

          2. Vettel just made that Ferrari look poor.

            Given RAI and LEC performances with that Ferrari… it doesn’t really look like that. Just this race VET outqualified LEC by almost 0.7sec! If it was HAM outqualifying BOT, more than sure would have been HAM making the difference. When it’s VET, it’s the other driver not performing well. Can’t be like that all the time, no doubt.

          3. F1oSaurus (@)
            10th June 2019, 9:46

            Lol you have got to be kidding me. Ferrari locked out the front row in Monza and Raikkonen won the race in USA.

            Yes Hamilton managed to squeeze out 7 hundredths of a second more than Vettel and Raikkonen, but Bottas was 3 tenths down. Ferrar had the faster car in USA. Not only in Q3, but most definately in the race.

            In Baku Vettel blew it. He locked up and flew off. Seriously, how can you even begin to blame Ferrari for that. Vettel explained how it would be difficult to judge his braking point and instead of taking it safe he got it utterly wrong. Vettel should learn to drive an F1 car when other cars are around him.

            He’s a decent driver when he’s all alone on track, but add a few cars near him and he’s hopeless.

    3. If Vettel hadn’t left the track there would have been no penalty – but he did. If you give the stewards a reason to look at your driving you have to expect that sometimes the decision will not go your way. I’m sure the stewards would have been much happier not having to make any decision.
      Unfortunately this isn’t even the first time Vettel has choked at Montreal – he gifted Button a win there in 2011. These ‘slip-ups’ are happening far too often with Vettel for there not to be some underlying problem that needs to be fixed, or the tifosi will just have to get used to having wins thrown away occasionally.

  29. Same Vettel as always. Sore looser… That’s why they call it unsafe reentry guys. Meaning that in order to have a safe reentry you should stay out of the racing line!!! So you certaintly have to lift Mr Fingerboy to enter the track. If you take in consideration that your opponent is half a second behind you then that makes you a Sunday driver which you most certainly aren’t (4 times WCH) or a very dangerous man with a red big gun in your hands! If Lewis didn’t break and was hit by Vettel would it be just a racing incident? LOL……

    1. I think HAM was more like 1.5-2sec behind at that moment. Otherwise, HAM would have passed him as soon as he went off-track.

      1. @mg1982

        no ham was within drs range, and reason he didnt pass instantly is he braked correctly and didnt cut the chicane tahts why he wouldnt immediately pass… same as above video, verstappen cuts chicane, vettel right behind him, but vers still ahead!

      2. 0.8 sec maximum that’s the reason why Ham couldn’t pass him.If we was further back he would have passed from the inside without having to break at all!!!

      3. @mg1982

        also in the video watch vettel’s comment carefully! after 1.58, he says, we pushed max into a mistake which he didnt pay for it!

        what was different? why is he arguing? max paid for the mistake… max chose the penalty instead of giving the position back! vettel cried 30 mins in the race swearing left right up down the paddock on track and at race controllers too!

        he received the penalty because he made a mistake due to ham pushing him for it! and his mistake was continueing that could cost ham or both of them the race if ham didnt back off it!
        he could chose to accept and build a gap because he was getting a good gap!

      4. F1oSaurus (@)
        9th June 2019, 21:50

        @mg1982 Oh come on man. If you have no clue about what was actually going on then why bother responding here?

    2. according to people crying this was probably be the comments… “ham deserved to retire, he didnt have chance to overtake but he went for it dangerously”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSS-guKXQJY

      lets pause on this:

      verstappen cuts the chicane, full throttle on still, obviously gained advantage, vettel on the radio next 30 mins! he has to let me go! f sake!

      vettel never cries and on for a fair racing as always…

      extra bonus, he cuts off ric, and moves on like nothing happened… and moans about verstappen… verstappen the child call vettel “he is shouting on the radio like a child”

      on the other hand, fernando’s opinion on the matter “karma!”

      1. I miss Alonso hahahahahahahaha

  30. I really like Seb’s gesture with swapping the banners underneath the podium. I can’t imagine in which universe they could possibly influence the race so much for such a minor incident. Vettel’s tyres were covered with grass and dirt and there’s no way how he could possibly change the line he took while exiting the lawn. So thank you, FIA, for killing the tiniest sign of surprise this season.

    1. what are you trying to provocate?

  31. Seb made a mistake, realised Hamilton would carry more speed through the corner and would ultimately take the race lead, so continued to push and over corrected. There was no malice, but he should have lifted and regained control of the car then rejoined the track without making it to the racing line. Unfortunately, like his other forced errors we’ve seen that have led to spins, the red mist came down and he buried the throttle, causing the rest to unfold.

    Well done Hamilton with the sportsmanship and for trying to win it on track.

    Nice try Leclerc, you almost had 2nd!

    2 penalty points seems a bit harsh, and there may be more to come (either points or a fine) for his behavior after the chequered flag, including not being weighed – as great entertainment as it was! His swapping the position markers will be a meme for years!

    1. He’s weighed, otherwise it’d be a slam dunk disqualification from the race.

      What Vettel did post race (before his reappearance to podium) is stopping his car just past parc ferme for non podium cars, pushing it back to the parc ferme for non podiums, weighed at the usual weighing station in the pit and go straight to Ferrari motorhome.

  32. I just want to ask the silver fans trying to legitimize this “victory” one thing – please, try to stop shutting everyone up, calling Vettel names etc. Your team is given everything on a silver plate and your false pretence of being the right and just is really getting exhausting.

    1. @pironitheprovocateur
      At least have the courage to back up your argument with reasoning rather than accuse others of arguing in bad faith.

      1. I did, just two comments above. Also, it’s going to be rather funny after many old drivers like Nigel Mansell took Vettel’s side. Hard to argue against experienced racing drivers who know how the cars behave on grass and in extreme situations.

        1. No, your not backing up your argument that ‘silver fans’ are making a ‘false pretence of being the right’. It’s also rather funny that experienced racing drivers with the actual telemetry can’t make a more informed decision than Nigel Mansell apparently. It’s quite simple, Vettel could have reduced his speed but didn’t want to – after making his mistake and going off track – as he was desperate to keep the place. If that desperation meant he lost control of the care, that’s his problem and responsibility.

          1. “Vettel’s tyres were covered with grass and dirt and there’s no way how he could possibly change the line he took while exiting the lawn.”

            This is the fact I was backing up, I don’t feel the need to back up the claim that well-known Hamilton fans are calling Vettel a sore loser and other such things in the comments. I would like to underline what Ickx has said further down, you just cannot do some topsy turvy moves when leaving the grass, Vettel just couldn’t completely stop the car or break heavily, his grip was practically zero. Moreover, you can’t expect him to brake entirely and nicely hand Hamilton a victory. This would have been considered an exciting battle 20 or 30 years ago, but today it’s rather a matter of politics and lobbying.

          2. @pironitheprovocateur Obviously the stewards thought there was something Vettel could have done. I don’t think Vettel is a sore loser. I do think he was put under pressure and forced into a mistake. We saw Hamilton do the same with Rosberg a few times and it cost the latter the race. Re-entering unsafely and forcing Hamilton to brake on the racing line isn’t worthy of keeping the position, imo, setting aside the danger aspect. Ideally Vettel would have been told to hand over the position and we could have seen him trying to get it back. As for the politics and lobbying, I doubt Ferrari have less weight than Mercedes. And I also doubt Senna and others would have agreed with your idea that they didn’t exist 20 or 30 years ago.

      2. @david-br
        he is backing up argument? he is not reading the comments properly… everyone calling hamilton cry baby still… and how unfair this was etc…

        please watch back 2016 mexico…
        he cries for not getting the position back after max cutting chicane (max got a penalty but accepted and moved to make a gap to make up for it) vettel argued he fought max to get him to make a mistake, which he did (like ham pushed him to make too), and he cried on radio next 30 mins… calling/swearing at everyone… because he didnt get his position back!

        please tell me how is this backed up? knowing well vettel’s immature behaviour is well documented! ham only reported the incident, i dont recall any crying unlike vettel! (yet ham is called cry baby)

        vet was told to put his head down and make a gap, instead he kept crying and ranting… not to mention his post race behaviour!

    2. lol, what a provocateur you are… go watch back mexico 2016 and come back with name calling and crying…

      1. Say what you want, guys, you just don’t come up with this kind of decision when it comes to the race lead…for such a minor incident. It’s just bad for the sport and I’m glad the experienced drivers who actually know how it works are taking their stance.

        1. Its not a minor incident. Vettel’s offence could have resulted in a crash. Rules are there to penalise offences not the results of those offences.

        2. F1oSaurus (@)
          10th June 2019, 9:53

          @pironitheprovocateur What Hamilton did was racing! Ferrari had the faster car on the straights, so Hamilton wasn’t getting past unless he forced Vettel into a mistake. So he kept pressuring Vettel and finally Vettel cracked and made that mistake.

          That’s what we want to see. That’s why Hamilton keeps doing that because otherwise he might as well hang back 3 seconds and collect P2.

          Then instead of an actual battle for position, Vettel ruins it all by simply driving Hamilton in the wall. Which Hamilton just manages to avoid.

          What Vettel did is ruining racing. He justly got a penalty for his misbehavior.

    3. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:56

      @pironitheprovocateur How about last season in Japan when Verstappen did the same to Raikkonen? You agreed that Verstappen was not to blame at all and should not have gotten his penalties?

  33. If the rule really states ‘Forced’ then it wasn’t a penalty. Vettel didn’t force anything, no wonder he was upset.

  34. Lenny (@leonardodicappucino)
    9th June 2019, 21:54

    I think it’s interesting how sooooo many people are saying “Vettel only has himself to blame” “once again cracks under pressure” seem to forget how many times Hamilton made a mistake and locked up into the hairpin. Sure, they were minor mistakes, but so was Vettel’s. The penalty absolutely ruined that race for me, as I just don’t understand it at all. What I saw on the onboard (I watched it back like 4-5 times so am pretty sure this is what happened) was that Vettel missed his braking point, tried to make the corner, then, when he realised he couldn’t, cut across the grass, nearly lost his car, and in doing so slid into a position that meant Hamilton had to take avoiding action. Regardless of whether or not you think this particular incident was a penalty, I think we can all agree that the stewarding system needs an overhaul. The stewards have access to a bunch of telemetry etc. Tell us more specifically what made you make the decision that you made, and not just what the broken rule is. Also I think any penalties that aren’t taken during the race should be appealable. And furthermore we need just a consistent team of stewards. And maybe “reset” (at least partly) the looking back at similar incidents. There’s so many inconsistencies in past penalties that it’s impossible to work based on them. There we go, rant over.

    1. +1, finally a reasonable opinion.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        10th June 2019, 10:20

        -1 The idea that the penalty “ruined the race” is completey besides the point. How does that constitute a “reasonable” opinion. Oh I don’t like that penalty, so it should not be given.

        Japan 2018 Verstappen on Raikkonen is a clear similar incident with exactly the same outcome.

    2. Sure, they were minor mistakes, but so was Vettel’s.

      Vettel’s mistake was hardly minor. He left the track.

      1. @david-br

        Rather fitting for the car which isn’t good on its tires. Perhaps Vettel should have backed off to Leclerc’s pace this weekend and made some friends.

        1. Vettel drove great. One mistake aside.

    3. F1oSaurus (@)
      10th June 2019, 9:54

      @leonardodicappucino Hamilton is in dirty air and had a little lock up. How on earth is that comparable to completely missing a corner?

  35. The penalty was for un-safe re-entry. What would have been a safe re-entry in this case, coming of the grass in a 4wd slide with opposite lock on the steering wheel?

    1. VET was forced into a mistake and cut the corner, didn’t slow down but drove across the racing line into HAM’s path, not only keeping his position but forcing HAM to brake to avoid the collision. The 5 seconds penalty may have been too lenient.

      1. He didnt force anything. He had no grip. His initial error was trying to keep ahead in an inferior car. Not something we should criticise to be fair. But then it’s all in keeping with santitizing the ‘sport’.

        1. Just because he can’t slow down doesn’t mean he avoids the penalty. He made the mistake of cutting the corner, he pays the price.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      9th June 2019, 21:57

      That would have been reducing the throttle and getting control of the car before moving over to the racing line. What else?

    3. I respect your opinions guys. I just can’t see how it’s possible to regain control on the grass. Vettel applies opposite lock when he rejoins the track and doesn’t have control of the car before he is on the racing line. He doesn’t have any alternatives.

      1. Well said.

      2. GtisBetter (@)
        10th June 2019, 0:09

        True, but that doesn’t mean you should not give a penalty. It reminds me of other racing series where the pit closes at a safety car. Sometimes people have car trouble or run out of gas, but they still get the penalty even if they have no choice but to pit.

        The penalty is not for intentionally unsafe re-entry only, but for any unsafe re-entry.

      3. F1oSaurus (@)
        10th June 2019, 9:55

        He didn’t need to control the car on grass. He’s expected to control the car when he gets back on the tarmac. Not move over all the way to the right and onto the racing line.

  36. If it is that simple lewis could have outcelerated him on the inside…yes vet overshot..yes he cracked..yes Lewis has the uper Hand and doesnt want to win like that…but for the sport,the people At track vet is the right winner..the sport harming itsself..

  37. The problem is that hamilton saw a ferrari in the middle of the road and tried to take advantage of it. In a race obviously vettel isnt going to let hamilton past, but he didnt force him in the wall. Hamilton tried to take advantage of his mistake but he failed. How is that against the rules??

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      10th June 2019, 10:22

      @chrisgalaz Hamilton was actually already next to Vettel when Vettel came back on track. he had his front wing in at least.

  38. I suspect the telemetry will show Seb was not so innocent – if he had let up and rejoined with a little more control he would have been passed. As it was he rejoined pushing to keep LH behind as 99/100 of us would do. Doesn’t excuse being unsafe and impeding LH from passing him. I bet LH telemetry shows massive abnormal actions that cost him a lot of time. I wouldn’t be surprised LH’s sector time was 5 seconds slower that the previous lap – thus 5 second penalty.

    Seb used his car as a blocker and had more than 1 change of direction to keep his position. :)

    1. @blueruck

      all at the same time as faking loss of grip and snap-oversteer to hide his Schumacher-esq petulence.
      Clever lad.

  39. Just, after the analysis from Karun Chandhok and Jenson Button, just try to watch it. And maybe you’ll realize how hard it is to actually keep the car heading straight after rejoining in this part of the track. This is not a videogame.

    1. Videogames aint easy and if F1 was easy i wouldnt watch it.

      1. @rethla

        They make F1 look too easy though. They learnt the trade as 8 year olds (Alonso 4 ) in 2-stroke Karts and have raced every week since.

    2. @pironitheprovocateur
      the problem with the Chandhok analysis is that they superslow the onboard and they miss the sound. Find the onboard and listen to what “off throttle” sounds like just after the error (where he takes the foot off the throttle to catch the oversteer) and then listen to what “staying on the throttle” sounds when he enters the grass. That staying on throttle could be avoided and that staying on the throttle is what made him rejoin with a snappy rear end, straight to the racing line. You have to remember that even in high gear – low revs these engines produce massive amounts of torque.. you want control, you stay off throttle…

      1. @vaiosp

        Sounds like a complex piece of petulance. Schumacher’s was so more obvious and only received about 2 slaps on the wrist keeping his points.

        1. When I first saw the onboard on the Greek channel (live), I was immediately sure he would get a penalty for that.. Greek commentators shut the hell up when an onboard is played. So I could hear the engine revving in the grass.. I played Canada on F1 2018 just yesterday and I knew he was on throttle immediately just by listening to it once.. I also know that I would have done the exact same thing instinctively just to keep my position . But I also know that this should be penalised… Rules are Rules and NOT applying them is the wrong thing to do, not the other way around… And F1 2018 without traction control and a crappy wheel IS hard , especially going on throttle while driving through grass…

      2. F1oSaurus (@)
        10th June 2019, 10:25

        +1, finally a reasonable opinion.

        It is abundantly clear that Vettel caused his own “control” issues. Not by accident, but by choice.

    3. Funny you should say it’s not videogames– because it could be argued that Vettel “playstationed” that corner. :)

  40. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    9th June 2019, 22:32

    This is very unfortunate because to me this was just hard racing, one guy almost lost it, came back in and the guy in second had to get on the brakes. It’s unfortunate because this sets an example and these morons running the races will now have to give most incidents 5 second penalties because everyone will be complaining if they don’t.

  41. I just watched it, he claims Seb had a snap of oversteer due to his rear wheels bouncing across the kerbs – fair enough until he switched to the external cameras to show the snap – where Vettels rear wheels were firmly on the race track.

    The question then is, what caused that snap of oversteer? Taking that curve he was following too quickly? No chance, it was therefore because of hard acceleration.

    If Karun is correct about the two snaps of oversteer, then to me, he’s just damned Vettel. The second bout of oversteer was nothing to do with kerbs.

    1. This was a reply to @pironitheprovocateur above!

    2. It’s a quick part of the track, what do you expect him to do? In a matter of two seconds there’s no chance he could just brake heavily and nicely rejoin the track, especially when he’s fighting for the win. Again, we’re discussing things in such a bloody detail that when we look at the full picture, it’s truly ridiculous and harming for the sport.

      1. The sports survived Mansell – Piquet, Prost – Senna, Schmacher – Hill, it will survive this. You’ll be three great rivalrys deep before you know it and be rolling your eyes just as much as me when nearly every race, two things happen without fail: the racing is derided as the worst since (insert period where commenter was 12-20 years old) and the rules are bringing about the death of the sport!

        As to what I expect him to do? Is that a picture of yourself in a racing suit? Then you already know, I expected him to either not accelerate so hard to cause his snap, or hand the place over at the earliest opportunity. Failure to do either is a penalty, and I was cheering for him to get away with it, but sporting lows only feel so because the highs are so high!

        1. The sports survived Mansell – Piquet, Prost – Senna, Schmacher – Hill, it will survive this

          No it wont. This is hyper sanitization of the ‘sport’

          1. Rolls eyes

      2. In a matter of two seconds there’s no chance he could just brake heavily and nicely rejoin the track

        @pironitheprovocateur Agreed that braking heavily would have yielded a far more dangerous outcome, but I don’t believe that’s the point being made here. Seb didn’t have to accelate or brake. The safest option would have been to coast and thus give himself a far better likelihood of being able to keep the car further to the left of the track.

  42. The stewards’ decision adds that competitors have the right to appeal ‘certain decisions’ – which ones?

    1. As we learned in 2008, time-based penalties cannot be appealed.

  43. I’m not particularly enthused by this penalty– but it’s kind of hypocritical for SkyF1 to always rant about mistakes not having consequences, and then turn around and complain that a driver was handed a penalty for a mistake that anywhere else would have cost him the race.

    Vettel ruined his own race, and due to the idiosyncrasies of this particular track, and those two corners, didn’t pay the penalty on-track.

    There’s no real difference between this and the incident with Verstappen and Raikonnen in Suzuka 2018. I think in this case, applying the penalty is consistent– even if it’s not entirely fair.

    1. Sky is trash. Sorry to say that, but is true. Their bias is unbeareable.

  44. While everybody complains about the steward decision the main takeaway for me is that vettel once again cracked under pressure. He really made an unenforced error that lead into the things that happened afterwards.

    1. I’m not so sure about that given the car’s weaknesses compared to the dominant Mercedes. ‘Cracked under pressure’ implies a mental lapse and I think it is more that the car lags behind Mercedes in general, as indicated by the results and comments so far throughout this season. Scarbs article the other day on Ferrari adding more input into their issues.

    2. He did crack. And as hamilton closed down I was thinking of that interview he did with button about 2011. I was thinking omg what if it happens again how soul crushing it would be for him.

      Also contrast with Monaco where Hamilton did not have the luxury of some grass if he had a lapse.

      Hamilton has gone from being mentally fragile in the car to a relentless robot; Vettel is going the other way.

    3. Then HAM cracked under pressure too every time he locked into the hairpin.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        10th June 2019, 9:56

        @mg1982 How do you actually come up with nonsense like this?

  45. I doubt anyone would be questioning this decision if it had made the difference between, say, 8th and 9th rather than 1st and 2nd.

  46. After seeing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhX-ZzPhzo I believe the penalty was fair. If Hamilton hasn’t jammed on the brakes they would crash. That was a “well let me place the car here so he can’t overtake me” and is a very Schumacher-esque manoeuvre, obviously not as serious as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91JoW4mSiZo, nevertheless it should not be part of the sport.

  47. Vettel made a mistake. AGAIN. Then didn’t lift. I wouldn’t give a penalty for the sport’s sake, but don’t blame the stewards for doing it.

  48. GtisBetter (@)
    10th June 2019, 0:33

    A lot of people here seem to think that the penalty should not be given, cause Vettel couldn’t do anything else. I don’t agree with that line of thinking (though I do agree Vettel did the best he could) and it strikes me as the same line of thinking that a driver should get a higher penalty if he hits someone and the other one has to retire then if the other guy can continue. The penalty is for unsafe re-entry and that is what happened. He cut across and the car behind had to take sudden action. Not having control of your car, because you just went of doesn’t suddenly makes it a safe entry.

    1. Vettel’s fundamental mistake was trying to compete with the Mercedes through the corners. Knowing the characteristics of the cars, he had advantage of the situation with track position and straights line speed, and should have sacrificed some corner entry speed, to make sure that maximum traction was achieved coming out of the corners, knowing that superior straight line speed would make an overtake almost impossible. That would keep Hamilton on the back foot and require something exceptional, but also risky in the dirty air, probably taking hopeful lunges on the brakes at the end of the straights. With the championship lead in mind, is it a risk Hamilton would have definitely taken? We’ll never know now.

      Vettel should have held onto that lead despite the pressure being applied, which would’ve probably ended with Hamilton tyres eventually fading and Hamilton coming under pressure from Leclerc as he dropped back.

      Hamilton’s looming presence seemed to create the misconception for Vettel, that he should attempt to compete where we all know the Ferrari is weaker, into the corners. We all know how it ended. He’s in his head!

  49. Too many comments to sift through. I’ll just add my opinion to the Vettel was robbed side.

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      10th June 2019, 9:57

      @robbie I agree, Vettel robbed Ferrari again of a win they well deserved. He could/should have won in Bahrain and again today. It’s just bad man.

  50. I don’t believe Sebs first thought during that split second the first snap occurred, as the nicely lawned grass swallowed his car was “damn got to stop Hammy passing”. I believe it would have been “omg don’t spin not again” then when he was off the grass and still facing forwards “oh dang don’t get shunted sweet I didn’t crash”.
    He made an error.
    His car for sure reentered the track unsafely.
    Accidents are often very unsafe.
    He didn’t have enough control to put the car in a guaranteed safe position.
    Hammy was quick to brake but should have seen Sebs car heading ACROSS the track and gone for an inside pass, even 2 wheels on the grass and it would have been his race, no penalty required.
    If you are going to punish a driver I think you have to be 100% certain they could have avoided the situation. Certainly Seb gained an advantage by the way he recovered why could the stewards not simply told him to hand the position back to Ham? I know it wasn’t a dodgy pass but he certainly impeded him. I don’t think anyone would have been arguing if they had to switch places with 10 to go… Would have been a great finish with Ham having a justified win or Seb having to fight to win back the position.
    All these regulations to make the show more appealing and they hand down a penalty that ends the race over 10 laps early. Could have even docked 2 points of Sebs license or even his race points, neither if which would have stopped a very interesting race in its tracks.

  51. The stewards should have taken action against those hideous trophies. Boycotting the podium ceremony for that would have been justified.

  52. Hindsightboy
    10th June 2019, 1:08

    Just a thought but I’m guessing that the stewards had access to Vettle’s throttle and steering data as well as the video.
    If he kept on the throttle (as much as he could) all the way through the incident, and especially when he rejoined the track then it was an unsafe rejoin. If he lifted off the throttle to the point where he impeded Hamilton and had the car back under control then he was just a passenger and couldn’t help it. Looking at the video alone is difficult to say but the twitching in he car does suggest that he had his foot down as soon as he got back on the tarmac.

  53. Hindsightboy
    10th June 2019, 1:09

    Just a thought but I’m guessing that the stewards had access to Vettle’s throttle and steering data as well as the video.
    If he kept on the throttle (as much as he could) all the way through the incident, and especially when he rejoined the track then it was an unsafe rejoin. If he lifted off the throttle to the point where he impeded Hamilton and had the car back under control then he was just a passenger and couldn’t help it. Looking at the video alone is difficult to say but the twitching in he car does suggest that he had his foot down as soon as he got back on the tarmac.

  54. NeverElectric
    10th June 2019, 1:19

    Meh. Vettel made the mistake, paid the price, don’t see what all the drama is all about.
    Hamilton is not a steward, he doesn’t make the decisions.
    He got on the radio as it WAS clear Vettel rejoined the track unsafely.
    From that point on, it’s the stewards – but the mistake was Vettel’s.
    When pressure is applied, Vettel crumbles and makes such mistakes.
    And Vettel’s behaviour at the end of the race – my gosh, how stroppy. Imagine if Hamilton, under the same circumstances, behaved as Vettel did today – what would people be saying on this page?
    Good win Hamilton, extended the points gap to Bottas nicely, move on to the next race – whoever wants to keep living in Montreal, or wants to stop watching F1 – go ahead.
    Enjoy.

  55. So when is Hamilton going to give up his previous wins/podiums gained by cutting corners or forcing drivers off track?

    1. I know for sure he owes a win to BOT.

    2. Tell you what why do you point out a race where Hamilton won after not rejoining the track safely and forcing another car wide and we can discuss it.

  56. This has to be one of the most commented Racefans articles since Multi 21 in 2013 haha

  57. F1 sucks now. Used to be good. Sucks now. Oh well.

  58. Reading the garbage on these posts is more entertaining than today’s race.

  59. Today would have been so boring if Vettel had not cracked under pressure. What he should have done was give Lewis the position and then used his superior Ferrari power – remember his car wanted to go faster and faster? – and won the race with a clear 5 sec margin then that would have been something to talk about!

  60. Well done Stroll for a solid performance and just another sad shake of the head for Gasly’s effort.
    If Gasly can’t get to grips with that car then he ought to be moved in my opinion.

    Delighted with Renault and I am really hoping it isn’t going to be just a one of fluke.

    I don’t think there is much more that Max can do just now. He just needs to keep putting in personal perfect races and hope the right car comes along.

    As to THE incident I am undecided but if forced to make a call I would say no penalty for that incident.
    The track leaves absolutely no room for manoeuvre there and the onboard footage certainly doesn’t look to me like he intentionally cut across Lewis.
    His only option was to slam on the brakes which at that speed on grass would have taken both of them out and probably got the race cancelled due to the carnage.

    This could easily have been the best actual racing race of the entire season already but it is tarnished now :(

  61. I threw in the towel after four races this season. Sad state of affairs. I prefer my (pre-hybrid era) memories to the current state of F1.

  62. when you enter the track without seeing mirror or checking where your opponents are ,is dangerous driving.
    Simple as that.
    Vettel did not see Hamilton (as he said ) so why are we still discussing ?
    it is dangerous driving as he did not left space and forced out another driver.
    what Vettel was doing was crash Bandicoot ,not Formula One driving .

  63. Firstly I am a DR fan so I am partial. To all those people that a spreading dribble about Seb keeping the boot in it over the grass and across the track are simply making up stories. I suggest you re-watch the onboard from the below link.

    He did not keep his foot in it and you can clearly hear that from the engine and can see that on the rev LED’s on the steering wheel. He starts feeding in the power at the 24 second mark ;)

    He simply was out of control and not much more he could have done. Comparing this to MV at Sazuka is just silly. The minimum apex speed is higher and the track profile is completely different and grass also reacts differently to AstroTurf. A silly penalty and that is why many ex-racers in the know have voiced up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhX-ZzPhzo

  64. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    10th June 2019, 10:02

    Who was the race director for this race anyways?

  65. I suppose Ferrari will be waving their “Veto” card around when and if they get to discuss this penalty with the FIA. Will Todt be having another fireside chat with Vettel? If he does, he needs to remind him about the let offs he’s had in the past.

  66. I have a different point to make: Is there a way to determine homogeneity in decision taking of the stewards? Is there a way to ensure unbiased decision making from the stewards? Is there a way to rank the stewards based on their performance? A different steward may have a different take on the incident. How to factor in this interpersonal variance?

  67. One random fellow
    10th June 2019, 14:14

    @keithcollantine
    Just wanted to point out a couple of things:
    “An unhappy Vettel… finished the race a second ahead of Vettel”

    “Max Verstappen climbed to ninth place… Gasly came in eighth, the Red Bull pair separated by the two Renaults”

  68. I cringe every time Seb complains like a 5 year-old. His post-race behaviour was atrocious and unworthy of a world champion. Many years from now his kids will chide him for behaving just like they did! The funniest bit was that as far as I could tell (I may be wrong) the place markers were not put back where they belonged.

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