Vettel escapes Korea penalty

[Scott Webber]

The newly crowned double World Champion was summoned to appear before the stewards post qualifying after cutting Turn Five by taking to an escape road between Turns Four and Six during a slow lap in the middle of Q3.


However, the stewards decided not to impose any penalties on the Red Bull driver as they he didn't gain any advantage.
A statement from the FIA read: "Having heard from the driver and team manager, and having noted that Car 1 started what was its fastest qualifying lap with 17 seconds to spare prior to the chequered flag, the stewards determined that no advantage was gained when car 1 left the track.


"Accordingly no breach of Article 20.13 occurred on this occasion and the stewards decide to take no further action."


source

 

[Diego Lopez]

oh yeah i saw that it happened when Lewis was -0.030 ahead of him with like less than 4 mins to go. Even the commentators were like wowing at why would he cut track just to get to the pit lane faster.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Fair enough I guess.
At least the stewards looked at it logically.
If Vettel barely got to the line with 2-3 seconds spare then it would've been different.
Cutting the corner wouldn't of saved him 17 seconds.