dogger15

I read that too. The Stewards reviewed the telemetry and onboard video from both cars to determine that once Vettel had regained control of his car, he looked in his mirrors then opened up the wheel a little which allowed the car to drift to the right cutting off the line for Hamilton who had to brake to avoid a collision.

It was the look in the mirrors and the subsequent steering input that brought the penalty.

Manifold

Seems like a pretty solid case against Seb and justification for the penalty. Interesting how readily people jump to conclusions despite not having access to the same data as the stewards.

In the heat of that competitive moment, I can believe that Seb subconsciously and instinctively made a move to block Lewis, without even consciously realizing it, as probably nearly all of us would do. That makes the use of the term 'intentional' somewhat ambiguous, which I was I why I think we should focus on actions rather than presumed intentions.

LuigiVampa

I guess this makes more sense but opening the wheel is how you control rear end slide. Perhaps they are assuming Vettel's butt-dyno is so well calibrated that he would know that be did not need to have opened his hands?

It is a lot to judge in a nanosecond.

wildcat077

I was working in corner 4 yesterday during the race ... Vettel missed the apex coming into four and he took it wide and had to let off the throttle to regain control
which allowed Hamilton to catch up , but to Vettel's defense he had two wheels on the grass on the left hand side of the track while Hamilton had the paved section with the speed bumps
to his right ... ( the track turns left heading towards corner 5 at that point ) the way i see it, if Vettel hadn't regained his position on the paved part , he probably would have spun out and taken out Hamilton at that point !
It happened right in front of me ...

Paul Solk

Yes but not necessarily by absolutely standing on it at the same time which indicates he felt he was under control enough to nail it again... No other way he could have maintained that much momentum. He was clearly back on it as soon as he hit the pavement. Remember Grosjean losing it, nailing the throttle and taking out like 3 other cars with his spin across track?

I think the killer imho was he "did" have another option and we all know it, I think Button said it too and that was to lift and stay left. He panicked and went to make sure Lewis didn't get past him. Lewis said he would have done the exact same thing. I don't blame him just observing. The issue is had it not been for Lewis taking preventative action that cost him 2+ seconds Seb would have wrecked them both and Charles would have won so I blame Lewis

I hate the 5 second penalty, would appreciate the more "give up position" penalty which inevitably would have led to the hardest racing. I DO believe it was an unsafe return but never want to see a race determined by the stewards.

MSR Racer

I doesn’t matter what they saw on date here. What happened is apparent on tv and both drivers agreed on what happened. We want to see a proper race and it was until they killed it.

Stewards are stupid.

Paul Solk

The other general rule of thumb is you shouldn't gain an advantage returning to track. If there wasn't grass chances are there would be the standard F1 bollard system for a safe track re-entry. Seb may have gone in to the corner P1 and come out P1 but he clearly took all the Merc's momentum and gained in the process. Hence, give up the position you would have lost with your mistake if your competitor didn't have to nail their brakes to avoid you and go race to get it back... As I said above, that would have made for the best racing... Seb fighting to get the spot back or Lewis knowing he just has to stay within 5 seconds? I know which I prefer...

sbelles

Clearly the stewards found out that Seb had track insurance.

Akunob

My thoughts exactly, never want to have a race determined by the stewards. I wish the stewards could have instructed Vettel to give up P1 to Hamilton and then we would have been treated to an incredible race & finish! Those two have 9 Driver's World Championships between them, what a final 20 or so laps it would have been...instant classic! Oh well...

seanseidman

If the corner had been a chicane, and Vettel had missed the corner, would he be required to concede the position?

PiB993

Penalty or not Hamilton still pushed Vettel to the end and he didn't crack. Barely managed to stay 5 seconds ahead of Leclerc. I was hoping Vettel could build a 5 second lead over 2nd. Rosberg backs the penalty.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/922256...ty-canadian-gp

I still find F1 the most exciting form of motorsport.

Paul Solk

Watch more MotoGP or Moto3 then

multi21

How long did it take for Pirro to issue the penalty? 10 laps or 13 minutes? A steward decision to let 44 by #5 would have resulted in a sensible medium penalty with the race not compromised. As a result of Pirro's ruling, we had a great battle between multiple world champions and a true David vs. Goliath where David had a fighting chance become virtually meaningless as Hamilton didn't need to complete a pass on track but stay less than 5 seconds behind. For 2 days, fans have only been talking about how awful it's been, now how great it was... Pirro couldn't have screwed the pooch any harder than he did yesterday. He single handily lost millions of viewers for the rest of the season guaranteed.

Hamilton drove a great race yesterday, I'm not taking anything away from him, he said as much as he doesn't want to win that way and other F1 drivers have weighed in on how the pussification of F1 is absurd. But, Hamilton's not always been a choir boy himself with similar moves in 2016 where he was forced into an error by Ricciardo and then squeezed him to the armco (and Lewis was in complete control after cutting the chicane). In 2018, there was another violation of FIA rules and Hamilton was allowed to keep his German GP win. I really don't understand the people here who say that rules are rules, but don't want to see that the rules are CLEARLY in favor of Hamilton and Mercedes when they really don't have to be. They're really that good that they don't need to win that way. Reminds me of the heartache and uphill battle Senna had with the FIA back when he was battling Prost.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...oQIskwWEK.html


The German Grand Prix was full of eventful twists and turns, and it looked like there might be another after the chequered flag when race winner Lewis Hamilton was called before the stewards...

In a moment of confusion following Sebastian Vettel's crash, Hamilton was instructed to pit before being given a late call to stay out. In the process the Mercedes driver crossed the line separating the pit entry and the track – a breach of the FIA’s International Sporting Code.

However, after an investigation the stewards determined that a reprimand was the most appropriate punishment, rather than any kind of time penalty, meaning the Briton keeps his unexpected victory at Hockenheim.

In reaching their conclusion the stewards took into account three mitigating factors: that the team candidly admitted the mistake and the fact that there was confusion within the team about whether to pit or not; that the infringement took place during a Safety Car period; and that there was no danger to any other competitor and the change in direction was executed in a safe way.

Carrera51

I don't like the call, but Vettel made a mistake after Hamilton applied pressure. Watching the video it seemed to me that he could have kept the car more track left, but he chose not to in the heat of the moment and blocked Hamilton. We are talking about one of the best drivers on the planet so I don't think he ended up where he did by accident. I think the drivers should lobby the FIA to make a rule change that allows the stewards to have discretion to explore options when issuing a penalty in a case like this. I would have liked to have seen them order Vettel to let Lewis by, then we would have seen 10 laps of the best racing of the season as these guys went at it.

I do think both drivers showed they are true sportsmen, Vettel by telling the fans they shouldn't boo Hamilton and Lewis by telling Vettel he doesn't want to win like this and pulling Vettel up onto the top step of the podium.

seanseidman

+1