F1 News

‘It was a fully deserved penalty’ says Rosberg

‘It was a fully deserved penalty’ says Rosberg

10-06-2019 16:43
5

Bevan Youl

Former F1 driver and 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg believes Sebastian Vettel’s win-costing penalty in the Canadian Grand Prix was fully deserved.

In a race where Vettel started from pole and led the whole of the race up until the chequered flag, Lewis Hamilton came out on top of the Ferrari once against thanks to an incident during the race.
 
During the race between the two Vettel made a mistake going into turns three/four and went across the grass, swerving back onto the driving line upon his return to the track.
 
At the time Hamilton made an attempt to go for an overtake but had to back out to prevent an accident of Vettel colliding with him.
 
The stewards decided to penalise Vettel with a five-second time penalty which ultimately cost him the win.
 
“Vettel went all the way across the track, and he could easily have left more space for Lewis. He left hardly any room,” said Rosberg.
 
“Lewis cannot be blamed for anything. He had to back out of it. He would have been in the wall if he had stayed there. It is very clear it was an unsafe return to the track.

“It is not a valid excuse for Vettel to say ‘I was out of control, I had dirty tyres and I couldn’t see Lewis’. It was a fully deserved penalty.”

After the incident and the penalty awarded Vettel expressed his outrage over the radio and, at the end of the race, parked his car at the start of the pit lane, initially refusing to go up to the podium.

“This is Sebastian’s weakness,” added Rosberg.

“He keeps complaining and complaining on the radio about a decision he cannot influence instead of focusing on the damn driving and trying to establish a five-second lead.

“Just focus, nail those laps, and you still have a chance to win.

“But he has such strong self-belief, he always thinks he is in the right, and always wants to blame other people, that he loses focus in those moments.”
 
“After the race, all the gestures and disrespectful comments where Vettel called the stewards ‘blind men’ was unnecessary, too.

“He messed up. He should see that he is the one that made the mistake, and he is the guy to blame.”

Follow GPblog now on TwitterYouTube, and Facebook!