F1 News
Formula 1 grid weighs in on Vettel penalty incident in Canada
Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Almost two weeks after it happened, the rest of the Formula 1 grid has weighed in on the infamous Sebastian Vettel penalty during the Canadian Grand Prix, with the likes of Nico Hülkenberg, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz disagreeing with the decision.
Verstappen, who spent a day with FIA stewards at the Marrakech ePrix as a punishment for shoving Esteban Ocon in 2018, looked at the incident from the stewards' perspective.
"I think they do realise what's happening but sometimes they can't give another penalty because it's written in the rulebook exactly like that, that they have to give this penalty," the 21-year-old told present media, including Motorsport.com, on Thursday.
"Sometimes they don't want to, but they have to. I read a few comments that some stewards they got bad language messages on Twitter and stuff which is not fair.
"They are trying to do their job in the best possible way and it's not fair to say they did a bad job. I think it's good to look at the rulebook and what we can change or take out."
Renault's Hülkenberg partly disagrees with Verstappen, as the German doesn't see a need to change the rules, unlike the Dutchman.
“For me it’s a racing incident. In terms of rules there are different judgements every weekend from the stewards," he said at the press conference when asked about it by Crash.net.
“I don’t necessarily see a reason why we need to tweak the rules though now.”
The Hülk's former teammate Carlos Sainz, now at McLaren, echoed that opinion.
“Like any other Formula 1 fan I was disappointed with the penalty,” he said.
“First of all I think like any other driver I would have done exactly the same thing as Seb. We would just rejoin the track and try to keep first position independently of where the other car is on the track."
The Spaniard did add, like Verstappen, that the abuse the stewards have received following the incident was uncalled for.
“I don’t think there was any reason to give a penalty, but the rule is written and the stewards applied the rule, so I also don’t understand the criticism the stewards have received over the last few weeks because they are just trying to do their job," Sainz explained.
“So, it is not the fault of Seb, it’s not the fault of Lewis either it’s just a rule that shouldn’t be there, it’s too drastic and took black and white.”
