FIA correct to probe Vettel says Lauda
- Published on 29 Jun 2017 11:35
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Mercedes' non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has supported the FIA in its decision to launch an investigation into the incident involving Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Vettel has come under criticism after he was deemed to have deliberately hit Lewis Hamilton under the safety car.
The stewards handed Vettel a ten-second stop/go penalty which accumulated to thirty seconds after the length of time it took to travel the pit-lane was taken into account. The FIA announced that it would be investigating the incident to "further examine the causes of the (Hamilton) incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary".
The outcome will be announced before the Austrian Grand Prix in a week's time, and Lauda said it is right that the FIA has decided to take it further: "What makes it even worse is that Vettel took absolutely no blame -- although that is always so with him," he said. "I can understand Lewis' anger and I'm really angry as well. Why couldn't he just say 'It was my mistake, I screwed up'?
Fergal Walsh
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Replies (6)
Login to replyWolfgang
Posts: 313
Well niki, that´s not correct. He said after mexico it was his mistake, and he even wrote a personal letter to Charlie, so don´t say it´s always the same with Seb..
And let´s be honest: what about Lewis´ driving in Austria where he deliberately crashed into Nico.. He even didn´t get a penalty for that, instead it was Nico who took the blame and penalty for. So don´t come with Vettel here in that way that´s not fair.
He should rather ask himself what caused the incident vettel was penalised for..
JoeGreen84
Posts: 30
We know what caused the accident. The telemetary showed us. Seb (wrongly) assumed lewis would launch it out of turn 16 and he didnt. The lead driver at a restart controls the pace Seb knows this. The FIA are correct to re-open it. It was a horrific display of driving from someone who should be setting an example to everyone who is potentially watching.
ivaNOS
Posts: 3
Sure JOEGREEN84, if you know what Seb´s plan was, Ham knew it as well. Stop involving "potentially watching" reg this issue. Turn on your TV and you´ll see much more dirty tricks even following channells for kids.
Smiler121
Posts: 53
These guys get paid mega money to represent their teams, it is the case that they should be held to account if they act like kids as they are professional sportsmen not fictional characters, what other junk parents may or may not allow their kids to watch is a separate issue.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Even if Vettel prematurely launched out of the corner this is nothing more than the frequent 'racing incident' judgement and he paid the penalty of the subsequent frustration. End of story or FIA risk poisoning the whole season and will be sorely judged if they then fail to offer comparable post race retributions.
Smiler121
Posts: 53
I'm sorry but I still struggle to see how deliberately banging into Hamilton the way he did can be confused with the first contact of bumping into him from behind? The 2nd part appeared to intentional poor behaviour, or reckless behaviour due to loss of temper at a minimum.