Sebastian Vettel believes that Lewis Hamilton didn't leave him any room to avoid a clash on lap 1 of the Italian Grand Prix. The pair came together just moments into the race at Turn 3 which caused Vettel to spin out and join the back of the field.
Vettel picked his way through the pack and recovered to cross the line in fifth, but was promoted to fourth following a time penalty for Max Verstappen. Speaking after the race about the incident, Vettel pinned the blame on his title rival.
“I tried to pass Kimi and then he opened the brakes," Vettel said. "I didn't really have a gap and didn't want to try something silly. So I got out of it and Lewis saw a little bit [of space] around the outside, but then I think he didn't leave any space.
"I had no other chance than to run into him and make contact. I tried to get out from there but I couldn't. Unfortunately, I was the one that spun around which is ironic. From there, we drove well, we still got a lot of points so it could have been worse."
Vettel now sits 30 points behind Hamilton in the championship battle after Hamilton went on to take victory at Monza. However, the German is confident that Ferrari can bounce gap and close up on rivals Mercedes in the final seven races of the season.
"Well obviously it doesn't help when you lose points but it's not the end of the world," he said. "The support has been incredible but unfortunately, we didn't deliver, but what can you do when you get spun around. There's not much you can do from there. I'm not too worried. If we have the pace, then the points [gap] sounds bad but it doesn't take long to get them back."
Fergal Walsh
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
What a load of piss. Kimi got penalized at Silverstone when Hammy left him no room, and now the skeleton warrior can basically push a rival off track... again... ruin the rival's race, and escape with no penalty in sight.... is someone taking the piss?