“Lewis didn’t mean to give me puncture”

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel said he doesn’t think Lewis Hamilton meant to give him the puncture that ruined his race.

The pair clashed at the first corner for the second race in a row.

Speaking after finishing seventh in the British Grand Prix Vettel said:

There’s not much to say. I was little bit out of the window on the clutch and I had a bad start, lots of wheel spin.

I tried probably a bit too hard but that’s life. Into turn one I had to let Mark past. Some people said Lewis touched me but I didn’t feel anything.

He probably achieved what he wanted to achieve in Valencia! But I’m sure he didn’t mean to give me a puncture.

After that I had to come back slowly to the pits and then I was on the same set of tyres for the rest of the race.

Fortunately the safety car came out so I had a little bit of entertainment at the end of the race.
Sebastian Vettel

2010 British Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 British Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    20 comments on ““Lewis didn’t mean to give me puncture””

    1. Lewis can hardly see the corner of his front wibg so it isn’t easy to purposely give someone a puncture

    2. What else would he have said? Lewis DID mean to give me a puncture? at the risk of losing his front wing? He then had the gall to say maybe Lewis succeeded in doing what he tried to do at Valencia – forgetting that he was the one who turned into Lewis at Valencia, as well as here.
      What does he expect when he keeps swerving into people? He almost took Mark out at the start, and also Lewis. Lewis had the racing line tucked underneath Mark’s gearbox, with Seb on the outside at the 1st corner, he muscled his way in, earning himself a right rear puncture.
      The same way he muscled past Sutil, almost taking him out.
      Same kind of stuff he did in Turkey with Lewis, and then Mark. Also re the pitlane incident with Lewis. Whats the matter with this guy? Does he really think he can bully his way past other drivers? He is really getting on my nerves!

      1. Considering the exclamation mark in the statement, it seems (quite) clear that Vettel was joking about Valencia. Several of the other instances you mentioned were more racing incidents than 100% Vettel’s fault.

      2. kbdavies thanks your comments are so right on target!im getting pretty sick of the blame game thats been going on in f1!

    3. Nice to hear from Seb on this. Lewis seemed a bit shocked watching it back and said the RBR’s backed well off. He reacted well I feel and couldn’t have done much more to avoid Seb

      1. Yes, he said he lost most of the downforce from his front wing, but hadn’t realized just how close he got to Webbers diffuser. He seemed a bit spooked.

    4. Seb’s taken it on the chin. Gotta commend the boy for that I guess.

      1. Maybe he’s finally realised that sometimes things can be his fault or just bad luck – and not to always blame the other person.

    5. He probably achieved what he wanted to achieve in Valencia!

      Looks like he’s doing it on purpose..

    6. Why can’t Vettel admit he just dropped it at the start
      “I had a bad start, lots of wheelspin, so I lost the immediate pull-away. I think we tried probably a bit too hard [with start settings], but that’s life – you try hard to get the optimum.”

      At least he does not blame Lewis nor Mark for losing places after that. He did finally show some good overtaking moves. With the Hülk and Schumi he was clearly faster, but Sutil gave him a good fight for it.

      1. Not only that he says “Into turn one I had to let Mark past.”

        lol, i dont think he “let” him past clearly he had no other choice as he was beaten to that corner.

    7. To me it looked like the puncture came from Webber forcing him over the kerb in turn 1.

      1. Pretty ridiculous analysis. Mark was well ahead going into turn one, and Seb still decided to try going up the outside. Copse is a challenge in itself not to run wide on exit, so to assume the car in front will hold a tighter line is poor judgement, and yet again proof of Seb’s inability to know where to stick his car. If he followed Mark like any other driver would have through turn one, we would have had a cracking battle. Not complaining though, because it likely would have ended in tears again. He can’y pass – meeting someone on track like Sutil, who was more evenly matched with the RB6, proved too much for Seb, and he had to barge his way past in the end.

      2. I’d be very surprised if it was. The kerbs are designed to be run over, they’re not supposed to be sharp – or we’d see a lot more punctures.

        If you watch the onboard from Hamilton’s car you can see his front wing deflect as it appears to make contact with Vettel’s tyre.

      3. get some glasses mate

    8. Well done Webbo, Keep spanking Randy Mandy!!

    9. Lewis knows how to flatten your tire, he just missed doing it in Valencia, but got you this time in Silverstone.
      long as Lewis is within striking distance he will have a go at your tires.
      he has specially fitted sharp edges on his wings just for taking your tires out.
      Lewis practices on the simulator all day and now he is a master at it.

      1. I take it Vettel was joking a bit, but could also have meant that Hamilton did manage to pass him in the 1st corner, unlike in Valencia where they did also make contact.

    10. Well I had to watch on fox in the states and they give you a stupid dumbed down for NASCAR fans version and that’s what Varsha said and they wouldn’t show the on board from Lewis. It didn’t really make sense though since plenty of other people ran over the kerbs without punctures.

    11. I missed it that it was Lewis that gave Vettel the push?

    Comments are closed.