FIA Investigation into Vettel / Hamilton Crash Opened

[Paul Jeffrey]

Formula One governing body the FIA have launched a new probe into the accident between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the Baku Grand Prix, with the potential for further punishment looming over the World Championship leader.

Reportedly the FIA had been unhappy with Vettel receiving a relatively light 10-second-stop-and-go penalty in Baku, deeming the allegedly deliberate contact between the two cars as inappropriate and in direct assault to the reputation of the sport.

Released by way of a statement today, it appears that Vettel may still be in some hot water from the powers that be ahead of the next Grand Prix in Austria.

“Following the recent incident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in which Car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) was involved in a collision with Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), on Monday 3rd July, the FIA will further examine the causes on the incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary.

“A statement regarding the outcome of this process will be made available before the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix.”​

It is expected that the review and any subsequent action will take place ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, opening up the possibility of potential grid penalties or fines being thrown at the former World Champion.

Vettel already received 3 points on his licence by the race stewards and is now just three away from the maximum 12 in any given year, leaving the current championship leader perilously close to becoming eligible for a one race ban should he find himself in trouble in the coming events.

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Do you think Vettel deserves further punishment for his contact with Hamilton? If so, what do you think would be appropriate? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Unimpressed as I am by the accident, I firmly believe that he (Vettel) has been punished now (to the right or wrong degree) by the race stewards and that should be the end of it.

Punish once, leave alone.

 

[Will Mazeo]

2 drivers from the biggest manufacturer teams, man... I wouldn't want to be the one responsible to this now

 

[UMC 22]

I'm sorry, but more should have been done at the time and I think this is the perfect opportunity to get it right. What he did was ridiculous and dangerous, and a ten second penalty is not nearly enough for that kind of behaviour. That's not to mention the fact that he also finished in front of the driver he deliberately rammed, and those 'penalty points' will mean nothing unless he does something else, and even less when the 12 month period expires in a few weeks. It's just not enough.

I may be British but I don't actually like Hamilton and could care less if he wins or loses the championship. My view is based entirely on the fact that what Vettel did was ludicrous and an example needs to be made of him.

 

[paracletus]

I guess it's all going on a bit too much now..
It's just disappointing that there was such ignorance after the event.
Anyway, enough of this handbag swinging -- more wheel-to-wheel racing, less of the cringeworthy petulance on track please.
Cheers.

 

[Terry Rock]

I personally think the punishment should have been much, much more harsh when 'doled' out.
Given the fact that even after the race was over, he still insisted he'd done nothing wrong, I think they'll 'throw the book at him'.
He'll probably get a grid drop for Austria and a fine.

 

[Matthew Booth]

Didn't Pastor get a 5 place grid penalty once for smashing into Hamilton at id guess a higher speed then Vettel did. Can't remember with all the crazy **** Pastor did .

Either way it should be as the stewards decided Sunday. It was a low speed collision i doubt anyone will be screaming for race bans next time someone gets punted off the track

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

For the sake of reference, the F1 youtube channel (Which is really good nowadays) uploaded an analysis of the crash:

I don't think further penalties should be awarded. Nobody should be punished twice for the same incident. I do think the FIA Marshalls could have shown a bit more foresight in awarding the initial penalty: that headrest failure seemed like a result of the contact.

 

[UMC 22]

Either way it should be as the stewards decided Sunday. It was a low speed collision i doubt anyone will be screaming for race bans next time someone gets punted off the track

The trouble is that it wasn't a "punt". It was a deliberate swerve to initiate contact with another car. There will always be accidents and dumb moves resulting in car contact, but to deliberately set out to make it happen is just utterly ridiculous and inexcusable at any level of motorsport, let alone Formula 1. That is what needs to be properly punished and made an example of.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

A 10 sec penalty does,nt warrant enough,its showing a bad example for the sport,drivers,and up an coming drivers..And before peeps start raving about the days of Senna,Prost,Schui, and the likes,when it was near common practice to do idiotic moves, safety has to prevail..

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

It was certainly a move made in anger, although I'm not sure it's deliberate, but rather Vettel in his anger forgetting that one of his hands was on the wheel when he threw them up in tantrum.

 

[Benutzername]

First of all:

We all want to have real characters in F1 who are not perfect everytime ut at least have their personality and emotions. In the past there have been drivers fighting each other literally.
We want people to burst out from time to time, not always having to hear the same phrases over and over again. For me, people like Wehrlein seem to be quite uninteresting, people like Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and Verstappen on the other hand are really interesting - Like them or not, they are characters.

Anyway, if we still want to see emotions their shouldn't be made too much about the incident.

On the other hand it was totally unnecessary... Man, he just drove into his Hamiltons car just because he thought that Hamilton wanted to tease him (if Hamilton has done that deliberately, who knows).

From my point of view the 10 second penalty (well, actually way more, don't forget he had to be into the pit) is not enough. But the stewards made the decision and if they decided it they should stick to it.

 

[Matthew Booth]

The trouble is that it wasn't a "punt". It was a deliberate swerve to initiate contact with another car. There will always be accidents and dumb moves resulting in car contact, but to deliberately set out to make it happen is just utterly ridiculous and inexcusable at any level of motorsport, let alone Formula 1. That is what needs to be properly punished and made an example of.

Doesn't that pretty much sum up Max moving under braking though? Moving into the path of another car causing an contact?

The only reason people are complaining is because Hamilton finished behind Vettel. If he finished 1st and not had his headrest break there would nothing like this going on imo

 

[Sky]

Vettel should have to swap cars with alonso for a race.

 

[hitm4k3r]

I'm sorry, but more should have been done at the time and I think this is the perfect opportunity to get it right. What he did was ridiculous and dangerous, and a ten second penalty is not nearly enough for that kind of behaviour. That's not to mention the fact that he also finished in front of the driver he deliberately rammed, and those 'penalty points' will mean nothing unless he does something else, and even less when the 12 month period expires in a few weeks. It's just not enough.

I may be British but I don't actually like Hamilton and could care less if he wins or loses the championship. My view is based entirely on the fact that what Vettel did was ludicrous and an example needs to be made of him.

So Vettel is responsible for, that Mercedes failed to prep their car for the restart and lost the race on their own? Come on ...

My personal opinion on the situtation is, that both should have recieved a penalty for dangerous driving all and for once. To apply more and more penalties is simply bad judgement and in the country where I live, it's even forbidden by law to get penalized more than one time for one infringment. So the FIA should def. get their facts straight and business done because right now it looks, as if they don't know what they are supposed to do. Let's get racing ffs

 

[Mr Latte]

I don't blame the guy for making a mistake and hitting the back of Hamilton's car. It's racing, each was seeking to gain an advantage. Yet it's not in the spirit of "Gentlemen's Racing" how he reacted. Would he have overtaken Hamilton had this not happened?

Lead car sets the pace though and technically determines when the race re-begins.
Do the rules dictate a speed or time the lead driver has to go or that he can or cannot brake, even if he did?

If they do something to Vettel (potentially grid penalty/points wise) then expect it to be balanced out later in the year with something regarding Hamilton or Mercedes.

Part of it is just milking the sport and having people back their preferred driver.
Behind closed doors, many in F1 would probably like to see rivalry between these two akin to the hero's of the 80s/90s

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Unimpressed as I am by the accident, I firmly believe that he (Vettel) has been punished now (to the right or wrong degree) by the race stewards and that should be the end of it.

Punish once, leave alone.

You can't be punished twice for the same crime.

 

[Mr Latte]

You can't be punished twice for the same crime.

I take it you are not married, lol

 

[Denis Betty]

They have access to telemetry right? If Hamilton braked significantly harder than normal at that point, he should have got a penalty for endangering another driver. If the stewards didn't have the data at the time, a retrospective penalty seems in order.
I think the stewards job, in this case, is to award penalties which take effect during, and pertaining to the race. If they see fit, they (or the FIA) should also be able to recommend retrospective action.
The thing is, if they find that Vettel deliberately drove into another car, in anger, then I believe that would constitute "Bringing the sport into disrepute" or something similar. You just can't allow stuff like that to creep into sport, of any kind. It sends out the wrong message.
Sport, and therefore motorsport, should be (amongst other things) a tool to teach values to young people - hense the word sporting. Smashing into somebody because you're angry with them, is not only dangerous, it's unsportsman like and should be discouraged. The higher the profile of the sport, the greater the need for fair play.
Fair play should be seen to be done. If they're deemed to have broken the rules, throw the book at em.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Doesn't that pretty much sum up Max moving under braking though? Moving into the path of another car causing an contact?

No, the two cases are completey different. Regardless of what you think of Verstappen "The best defense is a good offense" attitude to defending, it's still a move that takes place whilst racing, with the intent of staying ahead. Vettel's move took place under a safety car, with the intent of showing his anger towards another driver. There was absolutely nothing to be gained here, except damaging a competitor's car.

The only reason people are complaining is because Hamilton finished behind Vettel. If he finished 1st and not had his headrest break there would nothing like this going on imo

No, that's really not the only reason people are complaining. I don't care about either driver, they've already won their cups, and I'm extremely happy to see the podium we ended up having. But Vettel's move reminds me a whole lot of, say, Kyle Busch's move (Yes I'm comparing Vettel to a NASCAR driver, because that's what he deserves). It's bone-headed, it's stupid, and Vettel proclaiming on the radio that he did not know where he was driving dangerously made it all the worse. Vettel has more experience in racing then atleast one of the podium finishers has experience in breathing, and yet here he is, throwing several tantrums. He doesn't admit that him driving up next to Hamilton and then slamming into him was a bad move, he doesn't even admit that it happened in the first place. There's nothing but contempt I have for someone who does that.