Vettel’s behaviour “a disgrace” – Hamilton

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton has branded Sebastian Vettel’s driving as a ‘disgrace’ following the controversial contact between them during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Vettel was awarded a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for ‘dangerous driving’, following the incident at the second restart where Vettel appeared to drive into the Mercedes driver in anger after hitting the back of him.

After the race, Hamilton did not mince words about the incident, describing the Ferrari driver’s conduct as unfitting of a four time Formula One world champion.

“I didn’t [brake check Vettel], Hamilton explains. “I control the pace, so like all the other restarts I slowed down at the same spot. He was obviously sleeping and drove into the back of me.”

“But that wasn’t the issue for me. Driving alongside and driving deliberately into a driver and getting away scot-free, pretty much – he still came away with fourth – I think that’s a disgrace. I think he disgraced himself today, to be honest.”

Hamilton responded to Vettel’s suggestions that the secondary collision was in response to the perceived brake check and that the two were addressing the situation ‘like men’ on track.

“If he wants to prove that he’s a man, I think we should do it out of the car, face-to-face,” says Hamilton.

“I think driving dangerously which in any way could put another driver at risk. Luckily we were going slow, if we were going faster, it could’ve been a lot worse. Imagine all the young kids that are watching Formula One today and seeing that kind of behaviour from a four time world champion. I think that says it all.”

Asked if the incident would affect the respectful nature of their rivalry, Hamilton suggests he will not hold any hard feelings from the clash.

“Not for me, I’m going to keep going. I think we had the upper hand this weekend. I think we can continue to move forwards in the future. Through difficult times, true colours show. It’s a good day for me.”

Hamilton had been in the lead of the race, but was forced to pit after his headrest came loose after the race was restarted following the red flag stoppage. The Mercedes driver appears magnanimous about appearing to miss out on victory through no fault of his own.

“I know my boys will be devastated. I’m sure we all are,” says Hamilton.

“But I think it’s really important to take away the great performance we had yesterday, the great work we did through Friday night into Saturday, the speed we had as a team. They did a great job in the pit stop. I love the guys and I just ask that we wipe the slate clean, move forwards and take this performance. There’s a long, long way to go and it’s Hammer-time, that’s for sure.”

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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    Will Wood
    Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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    261 comments on “Vettel’s behaviour “a disgrace” – Hamilton”

    1. That was black flag material.

      1. Agreed. In a ‘Real’ sport Vettel would have been sent off or disqualified. But hey, this is not a sport but a ‘show’. So Vettel goes unpunished with points for himself and his team with no hint of wrong doing. F1 the shinning beacon for young drivers everywhere…. Not!

        1. “In a ‘Real’ sport Vettel would have been sent off or disqualified.”

          You obviously do not watch Icehockey.

          1. Well, Vettel’s move was the equivalent of a non-accidental two-hander straight at the head, which usually brings a GMC + some kind of suspension…

          2. True, but in ice hockey the players are expected to fight. F1 is not bumper cards or dodgems. It is meant to be the pinnacle of motor racing. Which means there is none better and people look to it to set high standards. Vettel’s display was disgraceful. I would ban him for 2 races and strip him of all points earned today. That type of behaviour cannot be condoned. It was the low point in a remarkable and enjoyable GP. Those in charge seem happy with it.

        2. Brian (@flyinglapct)
          26th June 2017, 0:52

          Could we please stop with the other sport disqualification or “red card” comparisons? This whole incident equates to someone getting into the face of an opponent. If he hit him at 300kph, then the analogy would be correct. I assume it was just a coincidence, but the 10 sec penalty came up the moment HAM hit the pit lane. Did that impact the call from the officials? I believe most people will be satisfied with the penalty considering it took away a win.

          1. “Can we stop with the other sport comparisons.”

            *then immediately makes other sport comparison*

      2. He’s not wrong

      3. Black flag would be too harsh. Penalty points is already more than enough especially that puts him at risk for a one race ban, even though it is highly unlikely. Rosberg got 2 on his licence for Austria last year and Vettel got 3 for today. 3 is well deserved and should give him a bigger alert.

        1. Does it though? He has a clean race in Austria and he gets two point removed at Silverstone.

      4. You know during the race I thought 15 seconds and penalty points was appropriate. 10 sec seemed a little lite.

        But after consideration Vettel has been out of control in other races too. Like his cursing at Charlie last year.

        I think perhaps a black flag, grid drop, or lots of points on his license are appropriate. I don’t know what the rules allow but I’d like to see enough points that he understands he has to act right or he’ll be facing a ban.

        Instead I suspect the stewards, like many of us fans, wanted to see Hamilton and Vettel race. But in this case I don’t think that’s what should have happened.

      5. Derek drving
        26th June 2017, 2:25

        Instant karma..

      6. It sure was, yeah.

      7. Black Flag 100% – plus the guy overtook HAM behind safety car as well!!

      8. Indeed. VET overreacted and the way he conducted himself was disgraceful.

      9. Steven Sullivan
        27th June 2017, 1:25

        Yes the intentional act that Vettel took in running into Hamilton should have been a black flag; as any deliberate act like that, a black flag should be implemented.

        Anyone who rear-ends another can not blame the car in front and there was no brake light on Hamilton’s car so you can not blame Hamilton in any way shape or form. Vettel was not only wrong he was bad and wrong and does not disserve to hold the title of driver championship this year or any other year.

    2. Vettel’s move was the Formula One equivalent of deliberately kicking the ball at – or punching – someone in football, which would be a red card offence. Why this wasn’t a black flag is beyond me. The example that this sets for those younger fans getting into racing is disgusting.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th June 2017, 18:13

        @Bradley13

        Actually, it’s even worse because Vettel ran into Hamilton which was his own mistake since it was his responsibility “not” to run into the back of Hamilton. Then after commiting a red card offense, he knees the referee in the jewels for giving him the red card.

        It was insane to watch and a disgrace for F1… A lot of high people should lose their jobs for this…

        1. That was beyond a race incident, beyond an accident. It was deliberate and premeditated.

          Vettel is suppose to be one of the best drivers in the world, you can’t give him the benefit of doubt for turning his car into Hamilton’s suspension. The aim is clear, it was to cripple the car, and for that he should have been disqualified.

          Ferrari must known their only chance of keeping the lead is to knobble their opponents. If they get away with it once, they’ll very likely try it again.

          In the first incident Bottas was a buffer between Hamilton on the Ferraris, whom it seem were prepared to sacrifice their B driver to get that advantage for their A driver. Its fortunate that Hamilton had P1. What they do next time for the championship we’ll have to wait to see.

        2. @freelittlebirds – Totally agree that was a double error by Vettel. His responsibility to not run into the back of any driver when following and then the even more obvious deliberate contact. A black flag should have happened and would have been no surprise to anyone who has respect for proper racing conduct.

          I like Vettel, but he cracked today. His own fault that he did not win this race by just keeping his cool.

          1. You’re not allowed to drive erratically under the safety car, which includes stuff like brake testing. Watching the onboards of the two laps the stewards were talking about, plus the lap with incident with telemetry, I think it’s a stretch by the stewards to say it wasn’t a brake test.

            I’d be a bit surprised if Hamilton didn’t know what he was doing. He applies the brakes at the apex, and slows from 65ish to 40ish just after the shunt (and for those that are saying he was at 50 before the shunt, he would have increased speed a little when Vettel tapped him, so clearly his brakes were on at that point as he slowed to 40 in less than a second).

            Just look at how quickly Perez closes in on the two at that point (and remember that they’ve already done their braking for that corner by then).

            Vettel was running close, sure, but it’s not like he put on a lot of throttle coming out of the corner – he just didn’t apply the brakes mid corner like Hamilton did.

            Then he ran alongside him in a fit of rage (yeah, not so good), and to my eyes, accidentally bumped wheels as he wasn’t paying enough attention to where his wheels were pointing. It looked a bit too clumbsy to be an intentional tap.

            If two drivers were racing for a corner and had this level of contact, the stewards wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

            Karma won in the end though. Both drivers did something stupid and got penalised for it. But if I were the steward, I would have issued a reprimand or a 5 sec penalty to Lewis, and a 5-10 sec time penalty to Seb.

            1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
              26th June 2017, 2:16

              Vettel was accelerating out of the corner – you can see it on the overhead shot. Hamilton barely changed pace but Vettel is accelerating. The shot from behind makes it look like Hamilton is slowing down but actually it’s Vettel who’s accelerating so it’s misleading.

              That’s why Lewis was surprised – watch it again. Complete idiocy from Vettel who appears to be better suited for carting, NASCAR, or some other sport. He definitely has the class and temper for it.

            2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
              26th June 2017, 2:17

              Vettel was accelerating out of the corner – you can see it on the overhead shot. Hamilton barely changed pace but Vettel is accelerating. The shot from behind makes it look like Hamilton is slowing down but actually it’s Vettel who’s accelerating so it’s misleading.

              That’s why Lewis was surprised – watch it again. Complete mistake from Vettel who appears to be better suited for carting, NASCAR, or some other sport. He definitely has the class and temper for it.

            3. No matter what Hamilton did. Vettlel should have had the black flag.
              It was reckless driving. That’s enough.

              If you compare Vettels penalty too other penalties, it doesn’t make sense.
              I think it was kmag who got a drive through and 2 points on licensing for overtaking and giving make a position under VSC in last race. So According too the stewards. Vettels driving were just a little more off??

            4. Well, but Hamilton was not driving Erratically there Keith. He did exactly what he had done on previous SC restarts during the race. He kept his pace low, did not brake into the corner but stayed in low gears.

              THe difference was that Vettel (probably not wanting to get caught out like he had been at the previous restart) was a lot closer and misjudged Hamilton’s driving.

            5. So you truly believe Lewis was trying to get his back hit bye Vettel?

    3. I can baaarely understand Vettel heat of the moment thing but after the race is over he still doesn’t admit he’s done anything wrong. No data, no talking to engineers, just his belief that he was right and EVEN if he was, is that the way to react? Terrible terrible terrible

      1. I’m his fan and still can not understand or excuse the move in the “heat of the moment”.
        But not admitting it and apologizing (to Lewis and to everybody else watching) after the race … yet … ?!

    4. I also hate responses from anyone in the any of the teams. Everyone if too worried about PR and don’t want to say anything negative, even if the situation demands it.

    5. Vettel’s behaviour after the race is even more disgraceful, trying to say the incident didn’t even happen. He should have been black flagged and banned for Austria.

      1. About the 2nd contact/collision: Vettel hasn’t said anything at all about it, in fact bizarrely he doesn’t appear to acknowledge it or even be aware it happened – Ted Kravitz amongst others pointed this out.

        Is it conceivable that with all the red mist from the initial contact, and the ensuing chaotic race since, not having watched playbacks of the incident, Vettel isn’t aware of the severity of what he’s gone and done?

        1. Vettel probably think its like football where you can ‘shoulder charge’ your opponent, its something he can get away with in the thick of a normal race and so thought he could do the same when it was very clearly deliberate.

          For that reason it just doesn’t register with him. This is why he questioned the penalty. If you look at those old historical clips of the early F1 races you’ll see its what they did back in the day to gain an advantage. Its in the DNA of Ferrari.

        2. Hard to believe that having hist left hand up to wave at Lewis he just drifted into him like a soccer mom …

      2. @lolzerbob

        He’s a coward. Can’t man up to his actions after the race. He cannot even admit to himself and others that he intentionally whacked Lewis’ car.

        Wait for a couple of days… Ferrari’s PR department will ask him to make a fake apology in front of the media. An apology that will mean nothing to him and which he will not learn from.

    6. Sebastian Vettel's mum
      25th June 2017, 18:12

      Even I agree Sebastian should have been black flagged.

      1. Hahahahaha! That is comment of the day!

      2. Fukobayashi (@)
        25th June 2017, 22:53

        lmao

      3. hahahahaha

    7. Neil (@neilosjames)
      25th June 2017, 18:13

      Struggling with who was more of a disgrace. Vettel, or the Stewards for letting him off with a stop-go.

      Remember a kid called Dan Ticktum in British F4 (I think), admittedly he had a lengthy period of red mist and actually chased the guy he was angry with, then rammed him at a higher speed, but he got a two-year ban. I’m not even remotely suggesting Vettel deserves that sort of punishment because the incidents were very different, but using your car as a weapon should at the very least be a black flag. F1 drivers should set an example… as should F1 stewards.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th June 2017, 18:14

        +1 million

      2. Example to who?

        If as a parent you look at a sport man for your kid to look up to, you should not be bringing a child into the world!

      3. Just a reminder that MAL was banned for life from Monaco in a WSR incident…

        @neilosjames

        1. Neil (@neilosjames)
          25th June 2017, 22:52

          Not sure if the details of why that one was lifted ever became public…

      4. Remember what Senna did to Prost. Hell he even said he will finish race in 1st corner with Prost. :)

    8. I have black flagged both drivers. Hamilton was silly for coming to basically a standstill out of the corner, and Vettel was stupid for driving into the side of Hamilton.

      Looking at the situation as a whole, I think the Stop/Go penalty was the least interfering the stewards could be, but both drivers should be lucky they finished 4th and 5th, instead of in the pitlane as they deserved.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th June 2017, 18:25

        @keeleyobsessed

        You must be joking – standstill meaning going from 66km/h to 51km/h after the team expressly asked him to slow down and while warming up tyres. I think every grandmother in the world would not have hit the driver in front.

        It’s even worse that after hitting him, Vettel went and hit him again because it’s not enough to hit another car once.

        1. @freelittlebirds

          There are places where drivers are expected to accelerate, and places where they are expected to slow down to bunch up the pack after a safety car. Lewis slowed down (using your own figures) coming out of a corner, when even under SC, he should be accelerating.

          Doesn’t excuse what Vettel did, but doesn’t mean Hamilton is blameless either.

          1. 66kph down to 51kph is what an F1 car should essentially do under no acceleration. By those figures Hamilton just didn’t accelerate or brake, Vettel just got too jumpy.

          2. @keeleyobsessed
            regulations 39:13 doesnt agree with you! it was within the rules, and many drivers slow down deliberately to pace down and getaway surprisingly… ham didnt even finish the corner! and on board and official videos show no one was driving at anyone’s butt that closely except the smart ass whose name you guess…

            1. @mysticus The regulations state a driver is not allowed to reduce his speed unnecessarily. That’s clearly what Hamilton did. Who brakes in the middle of the corner?

            2. @spafrancorchamps Not Hamilton – telemetry showed his didn’t brake, and maintained a little bit of throttle. What he didn’t do was accelerate out of the corner, which was entirely in his right, was sensible to do considering the safety car was about to come in, and what he had done on the previous two safety cars.

              Hamilton is ENTIRELY blameless in this incident. Vettel made a mistake – a forgivable one considering he probably didn’t want to be caught out at the restart for a third time – but then lost all sense and deliberately wheel banged.

              It’s really simple – F1 is a non-contact sport and any deliberate contact should be an instant disqualification. No ifs, not buts, not excuses.

              I’m still shocked that the stewards responded to such appalling behaviour so leniently.

            3. @spafrancorchamps
              i guess regulators, and regulations dont agree with you…
              regulations’ wording:

              “…At this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary,
              fall more than ten car lengths behind it
              .

              In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the
              point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which
              involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.”

              did hamilton erratically braked? 71-60-54 thats barely a lift off! that is called slowing down and regulations says leading car can dictate the pace!!!! bloody pace!

              did vettel accelerate? hell yes! does ham need to accelerate or must he accelerate! hell no, it is not racing yet until he says! it is called pacing and bunching state!

              did vettel say he expected ham to accelerate? i think he did, he expected him, but did ham have to? absolutely no!

              ok last one!

              nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart” if you are clever, you know what vettel did!!!! if anything Vettel should have been banned a race plus penalty points to make an absolute example!

          3. According to the stewards, Hamilton did not lift or brake abnormally.

            He acted in the exact same manner in BOTH of the other restarts at the same point in the circuit.

            Vettel rear ended Hamilton. End of.
            Then he went and drove into the side of him! Unbelievable. Quite frankly, unbelievable.

          4. No, Lewis slowed down going through the corner. He maintained speed after the corner at which point vettel hit him.

            Vettel also does not agree with you. He thinks hamilton accelerated out of the corner and then hit the brakes! (Clearly that did not happen). Watch any safety car restart with vettel controlling the pace and you will see similar speeds. It was not abnormal, vettel just misjudged the situation and accelerated as he thought hamilton was about to sprint away. These things happen. However what was totally unacceptable was vettels bizarre reaction and then total lack of apology (in fact he seems to be denying he did anything at all!).

      2. Hamilton’s driving was no different from his during other restarts. Vettel is to blame for running into Hamilton.

        1. mark jackson
          25th June 2017, 19:09

          Hamilton knew EXACTLY what he was doing. We’ve seen dirty driving tactics from Lewis all those years alongside Rosberg. Although Lewis technically didn’t do anything wrong, he wasn’t driving sensibly. It’s like going 65mph in the fast lane on the freeway, technically you aren’t doing anything wrong but going 65 in the fast lane will get you rammed off the road. Both men were at fault, Seb slightly more. I think the stewards saw that as well. Lewis would have finished 4-5th regardless of the Seb incident, and Seb didn’t walk away with 20+point gain over Lewis in the championship. So it’s fair enough IMO.

          1. Steven Sullivan
            27th June 2017, 1:49

            Get real Lewis Hamilton is a class act and a great driver if you want to talk dirty tricks then you should limit your conversation to the likes of Mark Webber who was a dirty as they come and is not in formula one because of his driving antics. Maybe Vettel will retire early as Webber did.

      3. Agreed. Wayyy too slow. He was wayyyy behind the sc when he brake checked Vettel once going into the corner, and once out. It’s to move you make on tailgaters to get them to back off… at the risk of getting hit cause the odds of you hitting the brakes at the same time the one behind gasses it are super high. I don’t know why, but he was ticked at Vettel for tailgating him, when actually, he was backing up the pack ala NASCAR.

        1. At no point did he brake test vettel. He braked just before the corner (fully expected) then braked (although it could well have been the kers generation kicking in) through the apex. (Again not unexpected). The brakes then released and about 10 metres later vettel hit him! The second braking event scrubbed a total of 9mph off his speed over a distance of 5 or so metres. Hardly a brake check. Vettel also has not criticised hamilton for braking in the corner, vettel claims that hamilton accelerated out of the corner and then hit the brakes. This clearly did not happen as can be seen from the onboard graphics and also visually.

        2. Cmon guys, Seb misjudged Lewis move. Seb was expecting him to go for it right after the corner and it dind’t happen, Lewis did the same the previous re-start, because Seb came close from losing his position to Perez on that previous re-start he tried to avoid such risks by sticking with Lewis who did nothing abnormal or wrong.

          I can forgive Seb’s first mistake but banging Lewis car with his wheels was wrong, dangerous and regretful.

    9. I personally think it’s not clear cut. He had one hand in the steering wheel.
      I MIGHT have been an accident. Red mist for sure, road rage, whatever, but he didn’t have both hands on the steering wheel.
      Of course he needs to give his side of the whole thing, and I don’t think there’s any room for him not to own up to the accident. On purpose or not, it’s dangerous driving and it was right that he was penalized.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th June 2017, 18:16

        Well, Vettel would have said so and apologized after making contact, right?

        1. He would, if he were someone with my personality. But he really isn’t :P
          As far as I can tell, he didn’t even directly talk about the incident, which is really weird.

        2. Yep, i pray he’ll do that; otherwise …

      2. From my point of view, it’s his gesticulating and throttle control, along with the last steering input that gave the contact. Still Vettel’s fault, but at the same time Hamilton isn’t an angel too.

      3. This will rumble on – I wonder what Vettel’s reaction will be once he’s sat down in the cold light of day and analyses the incident.

        I think his incensed reaction and wild gesticulation inadvertently caused the collision: it looks to me that, once he’d pulled alongside, he didn’t correct his steering to straighten the car. We see his left hand in the air, but no clear camera angle showing the right side of his steering to know whether he had control of his car. At the 1st contact both his hands were in the air, so it could be the same gesture when he pulled alongside caused the 2nd contact.

        This will indeed rumble on unless he comes comes to his senses and apologises.

      4. Even if we assume he don’t purposely turning right (and ram) Hamilton because he don’t have both hand in steering wheel, it just means Vettel doesn’t have complete control of his car which means he risk (and did) colliding with other car or barrier. Which also means a textbook definition of dangerous driving. There’s no way any sane argument is in favor of Vettel of what he did today.

        1. Anyone remember Fuji 2007? Vettel has form.

          Also – how was Toto’s reaction to what I felt was a reasonable question from Ted about the headrest? Touchy much?

          1. Fuji ’07 it was Hamiltons erratic driving!

            1. Yep, everyone thought Webbo was refering to Vettel when he complained of “F*ing kids” causing accidents, but he was explicit afterwards that he meant Hamilton brake-testing behind the safety car in the pouring rain.
              There’s form there, alright.

        2. I might not have been clear enough: if it’s on purpose or if it’s a mistake, he drove erratically and drove into Hamilton. I personally believe he did it twice, but he believes the first time Hamilton was brake checking him. I don’t know what to say about that. What I meant to say about the second contact is that he’s at fault, whether by mistake or on purpose.

          1. Upon reading your original comment again, it is indeed we are saying the same thing :)

      5. Well admit the wrong. Thats all!

      6. Whether you think he did it on purpose or not the facts are clear. He pulled alongside hamilton and then then steering wheel flung right. You can see that clearly from the in car footage and also the footage from in front of the cars. Now perhaps he lost control but there is no way the car would do that by itself. He may well have not meant to hit hamilton but he certainly must put the input into the steering in order for the car to do that. Remember hamilton was driving a 200mph with one hand on the wheel and one hand on his headrest and was perfectly able to drive in a straight line!

    10. Beyond belief what happened between those two.

      Hamilton controls the pace, as per rules. Maybe he slowed down a bit, and maybe Vettel felt he brake tested him, which is fair enough to enquiry about it, but doing what he did later? disgraceful.

      From a 4 times WDC… It’s a pretty serious thing. I think the penalty during the race was everything the stewards could throw at him, but it wasn’t punishing enough in my opinion. 3 points on his license also doesn’t seem too much. It should be an example… But the FIA will never, ever, ban a guy like Vettel. Like it or not, they are biased towards established drivers.

      1. > From a 4 times WDC… It’s a pretty serious thing. I think the penalty during the race was everything the stewards could throw at him

        They could black flagged him.

        As I don’t doubt that the stewards looked at HAM telemetry and didn’t see anything wrong I also don’t doubt that they looked at VET telemetry and concluded that it wasn’t intentional and they concluded that was dangerous driving.

      2. What a crap-tastic forum of British tongue-clickers. It’s not like your precious Lewis doesn’t have a HISTORY of brake-checking. He knew exactly what he was going and was completely in the wrong. Sure Seb reacted improperly, but the cause of this entire issue lies solely in Lewis’s inability to understand brake-checking after a full 90 degree corner would cause issues – specifically when he knew how close Seb was. You want to talk about sportsmanship?
        I think half of you have blinders on permanently. I applaud Seb having the stones to stand his ground after the race. Little sheepish Hamilton knows it was his fault immediately following the race. Dust settles for an hour and then he goes on the defensive. Right

        1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
          25th June 2017, 21:24

          @sjzelli spot on. Vettel did wrong, but Hamilton too. And nobody wants to see that here.
          Hamilton’s slowing down could have easily end Vettel’s race. It’s not as if Hamilton hadn’t shouldered Rosberg, Massa and many others out of the track many times.

          1. Actually its proven by the stewards Lewis did nothing wrong. He had every right to go the speed he was going. What was not on was Vettel intentionally bashing the side of him. That is was bad as it gets

        2. @sjzelli I’m Argentinean (as far from being British as you could imagine). And I don’t particularly cheer for Hamilton either.

          Let me explain, and to @omarr-pepper too.

          If you read my comment, I’m not saying Hamilton wasn’t at fault for causing the first collision. Maybe he was, the telemetry showed otherwise, but I’ll give Seb the benefit of doubt there.

          What’s absolutely not allowed is to react like Seb did. I’m astonished that you’re calling me “tongue-clicker” and stuff like that. Can’t you see the whole picture? are you actually defending Seb’s actions?! He shouldn’t have done it. Even if Hamilton brake tested him, he shouldn’t have done what he did.

          And check the rules again, because it’s the leader of the pack who controls the pace. And he maintained his speed all through the corner.

          1. I agree. Even if we blame Lewis for the first incident, then still Sebs reaction is black flag material. Simple. Same goes for his comments to race control in Mexico. On both instances he should have been taken out of the race.

        3. This series is called Formula One, it has rules, if you want Formula Vettel go ahead and start a new series with new rules.

        4. The ruling from the stewards stated that the FIA telemetry data showed that Hamilton drove identically through the corner at the previous restart. Vettel rear ended Hamilton, probably because he was overly concerned about getting pounced on at the restart and went straight into the back of the Mercedes.

          If you still persist with your alternative reality and conjured up conspiracy theories here is the Autosport article:

        5. +1
          They both know what they did. No angels here.

          1. Alex nailed it

    11. Drivers must not drive unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed potentially dangerous to other competitors. Drivers may not pit, unless it is to change tyres. They are also not permitted to overtake, except if another driver in front enters the pit lane or slows with an obvious problem.

      Vettel has a point.

      Hamilton’s approaching the corner doing 90, slows to 66 going through the corner, then coming out of the corner where you’d expect a driver to start driving faster again, Hamilton jumps on his brakes to go slower again.

      If you don’t think slowing to 51 coming out of a corner is too slow, then it’s certainly erratic.

      Vettel is as much a diva as Hamilton at the end of the day. Both lack any kind of emotional maturity you would find in 30-year-old men, but I can see why Vettel was irate.

      Of all the spots to have jumped on your brakes, Hamilton did so at the moment the driver behind would least suspect it.

      He’s not allowed to do that and should have been penalised for driving in an erratic/unsafe manner under the safety car. There was nothing Vettel could have done in that situation to have not run into the back of Hamilton.

      Hamilton had created a huge gap to the safety car in front, coming out of the corner you would at least expect him to slightly increase his speed. The last thing you’d expect is for him to all of a sudden jump on his brakes.

      1. I don’t know where you got the 90 from. From the visual they showed during the race, Hamilton way before the entry of the corner was doing high 60’s and by the time Vettel bumped into him from behind(you can see his head bob) Hamilton was doing 54-56. A drop of 10-15 is what I’d expect from an F1 car that is not being accelerated.

        Hamilton essentially didn’t brake and didn’t accelerate as was his prerogative and Vettel just anticipated him to accelerate and he didn’t.

        The reaction after was quite a disgrace but his conduct after the race essentially digging down on his error and even using the “solving it like men” line is just a disgrace. If for nothing else he should apologise for the attempts to try and justify his actions in such a crass manner.

        1. Vettel’s a diva along with Hamilton. I don’t like either of them.

          Go watch a video on youtube. Hamilton’s doing 90, slows down for the corner, then brake checks Vettel coming out of the corner.

          Slowing down to 66 km/h to go through a corner is pedestrian enough in an F1 car, but then Hamilton takes it further by inexplicably braking coming out of the corner.

          1. As above the FIA telemetry data showed that Hamilton’s pace through the corner was identical to the previous restart – he did nothing wrong. Vettel was clumsy and rear ended the Mercedes, then reacted petulantly.

            1. FIA have proven time and time again they are not to be taken serious. I will make my own assumptions. The graph clearly showed Lewis brake checking him. He braked in the mid of the corner and didn’t apply throttle thereafter. Speed reduced from 65 to 44 in a second. Even before I saw Vettel bunching into Hamilton, me and my brother simultaneously said Lewis brake tested Vettel. It was evident.

            2. @spafrancorchamps You’re just making stuff up now. The telemetry clearly shows Hamilton was not at fault.

          2. Anon, I have to disagree with you this time, your argument would be fine if they were racing, but not behind the safety car. In this respect Vettel has form, just ask Webber.

            1. He’s not allowed to slow down erratically under a safety car. Slowing down to 40 km/h after already slowing down to 60 km/h couldn’t have been anticipated by Vettel especially coming out of a corner. 40 km/h is basically a trickle in an F1 car.

            2. @anon.

              He slowed to 51 kmh not 40 and that was at the apex. He maintained speed coming out of the corner. Also the slow speed itself is not erratic. He could have gone at 1mph if he liked. What is a problem is if he suddenly went from say 60 to say 30 instantly. That would be a brake test. What he actually did was slow by 9mph over 5 or so metres in the middle of a corner. That is not erratic.

      2. What part of the telemetry proves that hamilton did not apply brake do you fail to understand???? .I’ll help you with it if you wish .
        German drivers throwing their toys out of their prams is hardly a new phenomenon now is it.

    12. Irrespective of opinions on who is right and who is wrong, I’m just thrilled that we have a genuinely thrilling title race with two drivers who are showing passion both inside and outside the cockpit.
      I don’t wanna say it’s like Senna vs Prost yet, but its a damn sight better than the last decade.

      1. @eurobrun I agree. Let both of them sort it out on-track. I’m sick to death of this blame culture and wanting to punish people for doing the slightest thing wrong. So what? I sportsman showed a little emotion in the heat of the moment. BIG DEAL. No one got hurt; It wasn’t even in the slightest bit dangerous. He received and served his penalty so everyone just needs to chill out and enjoy the show.

        1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
          25th June 2017, 21:26

          @racectrl we SO MUCH need an “upvote button here to choose your comment as COTD.

        2. @racectrl @eurobrun I would put both of your comments together and make them COTD

        3. I would bunch these together for WOTD. It’s not WRC, yet.

        4. Agree 100% with this. It’s been too nice between them for my liking up until now. This has sparked the rivalry into life.

    13. Lewis: the new Cray Baby on the block!
      We have 3 now: Alonso, Verstappen and Hamilton.

      1. Alex McFarlane
        25th June 2017, 18:33

        Wait, so Vettel waving his arms all over the place and petulantly driving into Lewis isn’t being a cry baby?

        His tirade at Charlie Whiting last year isn’t being a crybaby?

        He’s starting to think he’s above the law, a race ban would soon sort him out.

        1. Couldn’t agree more. Hamilton has had his issues in the past. But in this case Hamilton did absolutely nothing wrong. At the end of the SC, EVERY leader drops to a crawl to allow the SC to get to the pits and keep the second place driver from getting a run on him. Vettel acted like a petulant 2 year old in all respects. He got off extremely easy for his stupidity and would do well to shut up.

          1. Vettel virtually stopped once with Button up his chuff if I recall.

      2. Where did lewis do any crying, might i ask?

        1. Insisting the penalty was not enough and also asking for Bottas to interfere in Vettels race.

          Atleast we now know the driver that has number one status in his contract!

          1. Urmm, it’s pretty clear the penalty was too lenient for this race. A driver who has been done for dangerous driving shouldn’t be getting points in that race.

            Lewis asking if Bottas could slow down Vettel if he isn’t racing to gain a position is only a natural thing for a competitive person to ask. Hamilton didn’t know Bottas was racing Stroll, and he didn’t ask again once he had been informed on the radio about Bottas’ situation. So no number one driver preference here.

            1. He actually did add ‘if he isn’t looking to get further ahead’ or something similar i think at the end of his question, and yeah as you point out didnt want bottas to swap just to back up to within 1-2 seconds to give vettel some bad wake.

          2. So…how many times have the reds moved a driver over ,just before the finish ??? Let’s ask Ruben, massa,….Er!! In fact every teammate in recent memory..

      3. I think you got the wrong guy.

        1. I think that camera is distorting your vision..

      4. The one being a cry babe today was not HAM, the one doing that was VET.

        Even if the bum was not intentional, his reaction was silly and immature

      5. So it’s OK to throw your toys out of your pram and ram the car in front because you’ve nodded off at the wheel ? .I’ll try that on my way to work and await the conviction for dangerous driving.

      6. Alonso, Verstappen and Hamilton? Wait let me pick three random guys as well: Nick, Aldo and William.

    14. His behaviour after the race was even more disgraceful.
      It was DSQ for sure, but he drives a Ferrari, so…

      1. Yes, that is the matter here. The fact that F1 is almost UK based, doesn’t ring a bell, right?
        Vettel’s behaviour, or even so Ferrari’s behaviour, is clearly a PR issue. In other words, they don’t care about your opinion “steward” Ed.
        Hamilton brake-tests with his engine-brake in the most sneaky way possible and simply denies it and never talks about it again. He believes it is a disgrace when someone comes by his side and complaines, and of course accidentally receive a wheel bum. I say accidentally because we all know that a really bum, a red-mist bum, would have smashed Hamilton to the wall. That is a disgrace? Appealling to emotion by refering to children and to the future of motorsport just to appear mature is not a disgrace? Vettel is overwrought and Hamilton is insidious.
        Your all guys may know all the rules and review all the footage of every possible angle,do all the stewarting in a forum, or even direct a whole team by the look of it, but you judge a simple second in a race, not a lifestyle. Tell Lewis to go buy a second plane and be a “glamorous” rockstar for the kids.

        1. “Vettel is overwrought and Hamilton is insidious.” – sums it up absolutely perfectly.

        2. Do you know who knows all the rules? The stewards! What did the stewards say?

          Do you even know what brake testing is? It is certainly not slowing by 9mph through a corner and then maintaining speed out of the corner… Remember Vettel hit him about 10 metres after the corner not during the corner.

          Also if Vettel accidentally hit hamilton afterwards then why on earth did he not say as much after the race. He basically has denied it ever happened! You can clearly see the steering pull to the right which means either the ferrari has a major steering issue or vettel turned the wheel.

          1. What’s concerning is that vettel was in such a childish rage that it hasn’t even registered….needs professional anger management sessions methinks.

    15. From the get go, Ferrari’s strategy seems to be physically muscle their way the points. They did it at the start to take advantage of Bottas’ cold tires, and now we see another example as they try intimidate their rivals. That said, Hamilton could have shown more sense, it was blind corner and if he was controlling the drive, the rest of that snake needs to be in a position to see that.

      As for the loose neck rest costing Hamilton the victory. Mercedes prepare for everything except the unexpected. Most situations they rehearse for. However this red flag, where the driver get out of the car, doesn’t seem to have been one of those situations. Someone should have recognised this situation and asked the question, what are we now doing differently.

      Either the neck rest got broken when it was removed, or it simply wasn’t secured properly when they restarted. They should have had a sensor on the head rest, after all they have sensors for everything else. Next time imagine they’ll examine the headrest on removal, and have a backup neck rest to use, with the old one kept for weight testing later.

      so close to the perfect weekend.

    16. Ham’s assessment is spot-on. I was surprised by the stewards’ leniancy.

      1. They rubbed wheels at 30 km/h, not 300 km/h.

        I thought a 10 second stop and go penalty was harsh.

        Wasn’t worth anything more than 5 seconds added to his time.

        No damage to either car. More damage was caused from Hamilton jumping on his brakes coming out of a corner.

        1. so you are saying that driving a knife into someone slowly an inch should not be harsh than driving it fast and 5 inches… you are confusing “deliberately crashing” vs rubbing wheels during racing as same thing i think?

          1. mark jackson
            25th June 2017, 19:13

            No, he’s saying “They rubbed wheels at 30 km/h, not 300 km/h.” Where does this “knife” come from?

          2. Vettel in his rage gesticulating at Hamilton and with one hand on the wheel, accidentally touched wheels with Hamilton at 30 km/h.

            Hamilton caused more damage with his brake check than Vettel did touching wheels.

            Hamilton drove erratically under the safety car. There was nothing Vettel could do to avoid running into the back of Hamilton.

            1. Nothing that you’ve written there is fact.

              Fact: Hamilton did not brake test, he was giving the safety car time to get into the pits
              Fact: He did the same thing at that corner the previous restart
              Fact: His team told him after the first restart he was too close to the safety car on said restart
              Fact: Vettel DELIBERATELY turned into Hamilton after the incident. How do I know this? Well he’s one of the best drivers in the world, knows the widths of his car, and wheel bashed Hamilton. That’s not by accident. Saying he only had one hand on the wheel is a ludicrous defence considering you see F1 drivers AT FULL RACING SPEED with one hand on the wheel and not crashing into people.

              FACT: Vettel was under pressure from the car behind and was worried he would be overtaken. It’s 100% his fault. He drove into the back of the Mercedes.

              FACT: If Hamilton had braked checked him it would have shown up on the telemetry looked at by the Stewards, who have access to far more information than you do and would have resulted in Hamilton getting the penalty

            2. Sorry bob but the in-car shot of Hamilton shows him on his brake at 51 km/h. For some inexplicable reason Hamilton decided to slow down again after having already slowed down to a snail’s pace of 60 km/h. For some reason he feels the need to go 40 km/h (despite Hamilton on the radio complaining about the safety car travelling too slowly.

            3. @anon
              nothing you say is factually correct, i checked another video with speed on screen, ham hit the apex at about 60km, and slowing to 54 before finishing the turn, that is when Vet rear ended him… and the deliberately hit the side of Ham’s car, where the penalties came from i think… when ham made the corner, SC was barely 4-5 car distance! get your facts right, did you expect him to stick to SC’s ass like Vettel did?

        2. Anon, Your post is full of alternative facts.

        3. Please post this mythical data that you have that shows hamilton jumped on the brakes out of the corner?

      2. Hamilton also thinks they should have a fistfight instead. You know because kids are watching and they are role models. Very graceful.

        1. I don’t recall Hamilton saying he was going to knock him out ?? You are being very presumptuous

          1. What are you talking about? Hamilton said it himself lol. There’s nothing presumptuous about it. Like that wasn’t enough Lauda then said he also believes Hamilton will fight him physically. Are they out of their minds? While they are saying that, Toto says he doesn’t believe it was even deliberate.

            Hamilton was very calm at first, but sorry, his statements since then have gotten more and more ridiculous. First inviting him to a fistfight like “real men” because Vettel is being a bad role model to kids & disgraceful and then not wanting to talk to Vettel when they want to communicate. It’s all a bit weird on his side too.

    17. Vettel’s move was Schumacher-esque in terms of unsportsmanlike behavior. Race ban for sure. But it did look to me Hamilton was brake testing him. Braking like that at corner exit seems fishy even behind the safety car. 10 second stop & go for Hamilton and a race ban for Vettel would suffice.

      1. @huhhii
        The issue with the brake test theory is, what is the gain for Hamilton? If Hamilton was truly brake testing him there can only be one of two outcomes.

        1) He gives Vettel a shock, and Hamilton feels he makes some kind of point.
        2) Vettel goes into the back of him with the potential of ending his race

        Considering his position, how close they were, I cannot see the logic or reasoning behind doing a brake test in the position he was in.

        I think Vettel just got caught out by Hamilton not accelerating out of the corner.

        What was not warranted in anyway was Vettel’s reaction. He should get a serious reprimand. A decent grid penalty at least maybe even a race ban. How long has it been since Vettel’s radio outburst?
        If Hamilton or any other driver had made such a similar action, I would expect the same.

        I was also rather confused by Couthard’s reluctance to blame Vettle. His initial argument that Vettel did it my accident did not really stack up.

        I was also further confused by Coulthard’s acceptance of the second saftey car being called upon to “improve the show”. I personally find this just as bad as what Vettel did.

        The second saftey car actually introduced more danger and led to the third saftey car. There was no need for the second saftey car. The field was bunched and what little debris that was on the track (at that point) could have been cleared with a VSC. This would have been much safer, quicker and removed the risk of a bunched re-start.

        Playing with saftey cars to “improve the show” is a dangerous.

        1. They have seriously got to find a better solution for street tracks like this.

          The Baku stewards need to be trained by the Monaco ones too. And the recovery system employed in Monaco should be applied here in Baku. Recoveries take too long on this track. They have the money to plonk down on a race, they should invest in a proper recovery system.

        2. Edit: The stewards have even said that hamilton did not slow. He kept a constant speed. What is deceptive from the camera is that Vettel sped up suddenly. This made it look like Hamilton stood on the breaks.

      2. Thing is Schumi was smarter and did crash into people for a reason. Vettel was just being a stupid kid. No video evidence from Hamilton that it was a brake test since no brakes were involved(duh). Even a 5 second penalty for Hamilton would be absolutely ridiculous.

        1. And Hammy’s hero — Senna — rammed into Prost deliberately at 190 km/h, endangering Prost’s life.

          Here’s Hamilton getting upset about his tyre being rubbed at 30 km/h.

      3. @huhhii

        Even Schumacher had the intelligence to disguise his bumps and make them look as unintentional as possible. Vettel on the other hand, is so deluded that he felt he can just bump in to another competitor in front of everyone and get away with it.

        It was ridiculous behaviour from Vettel… the kind you would expect of a child with anger management issues.

        1. @mach1 What did Vettel gain for intentional wheelbanging? Drivers clearly do unacceptable decisions in the heat of the moment. I thought Hamilton did just that, however now that telemetry has been searched and Hamilton has been found innocent I take my claims back. It was Vettel’s rapid acceleration which made it look like Hamilton was slowing down a lot. Vettel is the pure villain of this story and still think 10 second stop & go and couple of penalty points isn’t harsh enough.

          @todfod Vettel, Verstappen, Grosjean, sometimes Hamilton and Alonso… It looks like it isn’t that uncommon to see F1 driver having some anger management issues. Oddly I think Stroll is one of the most coolheaded in that regard. He wasn’t shouting anything stupid in team radio when he was taken out in China and Bahrain. Imagine someone like Vettel, Grosjean or Verstappen to those incidents…

          1. It’s obvious to get angry. Alonso had his fist moment in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen and Grosjean cuss on the radio, but only Pastor and Sebastian go around playing bumper cars.

            It’s not about getting angry… it’s about how you handle yourself in that situation. Sebastian has shown that he’s still got a lot of growing up to do… or as Max once said, he needs to go to school and learn some manners.

            1. @todfod You should add Alonso to that list of yours alongside with Maldonado and Vettel. Hungary 2006. Alonso and Doornbos. Look it up if you’re not familiar with the incident. :)

            2. @huhhii

              I remember the incident. He waved his hand and then blocked him for the next corner. That is completely different from intentionally driving your car in to an opponent.

    18. Hamilton should’ve gotten Vettel’s 10 second stop-and-go and Vettel should have been black flagged. And all is well with the world.

      1. Then you’d have to give the whole grid 10 second stop go penalties for following the rules correctly.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          25th June 2017, 20:23

          @the-last-pope

          That’s funny – I was going to say the same thing. Everyone deserved 10 second stop-and-go penalties :-)

    19. To all the people saying Hamilton brake tested Vettel… Just from the simple vision, Hamilton just didn’t look like he accelerated at all.

      From the speedometer(for lack of a better word) they showed side by side with Lewis’ on board cam of the whole incident… The lowest Hamilton ever dropped to was 49kph and that was when Vettel was ramming into his side. The highest he was doing, on entry into T15, was 65-68kph. By the time his head bobs, notifying the contact from behind, the visual shows 54-56kph.

      I put this theory forward, Hamilton didn’t accelerate or brake, he just let the car cruise into the corner. 10-15kph slower is what I’d expect an F1 car doing with no acceleration applied.

      Vettel who had been under pressure after every restart anticipated Hamilton bolting right after T15 but he didn’t and Vettel got caught out maybe and tan into him.

      What makes it worse is Vettel deliberately driving to the side of Lewis and on purpose or not ramming into his side like some action car movie chase. And the fact that he doubled down on that action after the race is just laughable. Maybe he doesn’t remember doing anything. I’ve had that happens sometimes in fits of rage.

      But there’s no way he watches this back and comes to Austria believing what he did by ramming into Hamilton is right.

      1. mark jackson
        25th June 2017, 19:16

        Had Vettel not drove into the side of Hamilton, I think Ham would have been investigated for sure.

        1. Yes i think so but with these Stewards …

        2. And after anyalis, no further action taken.

    20. It’s another example of Vettel’s red mist appearing when he’s annoyed. Rather reminiscent of other Germans particularly Michael Schumacher, I have to say. And then trying to sound innocent and suggest it was not deliberate afterwards. He seems to mostly get away with this kind of behaviour, and a 10 second stop/go is getting away with it, since it brings the sport into disrepute, and is actually worse than punching another driver, given that it could have caused a puncture and a potential accident.

      1. Oh yes, and hamilton is like a white snow…

        1. Yeah, Hamilton the guy who turned the final race of 2016 into a farce as he tried in vain to back Rosberg into traffic hoping to cause an accident, and threatened earlier in the year to “do a Senna” to Rosberg…

          1. That was perfectly legal driving. What Hamilton did then wasn’t dangerous or unpredictable. It was just slow at certain corners. The car ahead is allowed to dictate the pace as long as it isn’t erratic and dangerous.

            Basically what Vettel did is like the most common of road accidents, rear ending a car ahead coming up to a roundabout because you didn’t expect them to stop. That is your fault not theirs. Equivalently Vettel would have got out his car and kicked the car he just crashed into because he though they didn’t need to slow down or stop so it was their fault.

            It is quite clear that Vettel has a road rage problem which has got worse these last couple of years at Ferrari.

            Hamilton on the other hand is always quite calm on the radio, yes he can complain a bit, but he never sounds angry or swears.

            1. Hamilton has routinely been anxious and panicky on the radio over the last few years especially. He was almost hyperventilating in Spain this year.

              There was nothing Vettel could do to avoid hitting Hamilton. Hamilton had already slowed down to 60 km/h. Then he jumps on the brakes exiting a corner catching Vettel out who must have been thinking this guy can’t go any slower.

            2. How many times are you going to repeat ‘jumps on the brakes’ after the stewards stated that telemetry showed he hadn’t touched the brakes?? Is this Vettel levels of self-deception? Come on. If you want a reasonable discussion, at least follow the facts and not make them up to fit an argument.

          2. anon your comments are just ridiculous. How can you compare Lewis backing Rosberg in to the pack in a WDC fight to Vettel intentionally taking a swipe with his car?!?! You’re comparing apples to rocketships and not applying any logic to any statements.

            1. Jumps on the brakes did he??? You are as dillusional as frau vettel.

        2. To arn & anon,

          Thanks for giving me some good laughs this evening. Klint’s comment was solely regarding Vettel, and yet you instantly feel the need to try and bring Lewis into the conversation without actually tackling what Klint said. Might want to take a course in how to properly construct arguments. Haha :’)

      2. The usual racism appears in the comments section.

    21. Both did a mistake… but it is unfair to punish just vettel. Hamilton always provocates his opponents, always, all of them. He is not a straight person.

      1. Marian Gri (@)
        25th June 2017, 19:56

        Tell that to FIA and/or stewards. I guess that’s why VET got mad, ’cause nothing would have happened to HAM after damaging his wing. And he’s right, the stewards didn’t ask themselves at all if HAM did something wrong at all. All they’ve seen from that “moment” was only the ”VET steering into HAM” part. HAM is free to repeat this “moment”.

        1. What? Of course the Stewards asked themselves if Hamilton did anything wrong. They have so much more data than we have and saw from that data that Hamilton did nothing wrong. If the data showed that Hamilton did do something that caused the incident, then he would have got a penalty of some kind.

    22. ” Stewards examined Hamilton’s car data in Vettel incident. Did not brake or lift off completely. Maintained more or less constant speed ” can we now stop with the Hamilton bashing and move onto why Vettel isn’t banned ?

      1. +1
        Absolutely no chance the numpties will stop mentioning brake checking though. They actually believe he did it, just like Seb doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.

      2. The stewards said Lewis didn’t brake or lift off completely… Maintained more of less constant speed i didn’t hear but reading this between the lines: they saw Lewis just lift off an moment which we saw all on the onboard going from 61 to 52. This is what Vettel saw as breaking as he didn’t expected that. So naughty Lewis and stupid dangerous Vettel.

      3. The stewards can make up stories all they want. I stopped taking them seriously a long time ago. The graph clearly shows him braking in the corner, not accelerating thereafter. So “did not lift or braked conpletely” is a lie.

        1. @spafrancorchamps, that would be the same telemetry system that, earlier in the race, was also wrongly saying that Magnussen had stopped on track altogether?

      4. There is no official document that mentions what you have quoted. It’s just a piece of “information” spread by the british media.

    23. Did anyone notice the timing of the 10 second stop and go penalty? It was right after Lewis had been given the “informal” black and orange flag from the stewards. Absolute disgrace. Were they even thinking of doing that before it was obvious Hamilton wouldn’t be miles ahead of Vettel? The timing of the whole thing cost Hamilton a 4th place and potentially a 3rd or 2nd. In the end of the day Hamilton should have been in the lead of the championship but Vettel is 16 points ahead now. If Hamilton loses to Vettel by less than that amount it would be a total disgrace (not to mention the Vettel black flag needed) for F1 as a sport. They just wanted closer action and they put in 3 safety cars which just resulted in more carnage, they wanted a fight for the lead so they didn’t punish Vettel right away which in the end artificially put Vettel in front of a faster driver. Maybe that’s not favoring, although I doubt they would have been so lenient on any other team, but this is a race for crying out loud. If the fans wanted some artificial close racing with lots of crashes and childish behaviour they would just watch Nascar instead.

      1. +1 race control were trying too hard to improve “the show” today. Second safety car was completely in needed.

      2. Anele (@anele-mbethe)
        26th June 2017, 0:51

        Do you know what would have happened of Lewis crashes with his headrest detached. Driver safety was the main thing

    24. A 500-race ban for BOTH Seb and 44? Yeah, I´d go for that.

    25. Will sell my Ferrari. Maybe this – if many acted alike – could teach these people something. Ferrari believes F1 belongs to them and act accordingly. Totally shameful.

      1. Sadly selling your car will not affect Ferrari at all and F1 does belong to Ferrari as they get huge payments just to show up (un-sporting) being a long time player. No other sport does this so F1 is not a real sport, it’s a rich man’s weekend distraction masquerading as sport. When F1 vanishes from C4 in a few years I won’t be watching it any more. PS I am the only one around here that still watches F1. It used to be an event where the lads came around to cheer on their teams. Not any more.

    26. Judging by their desperation to get Vettel disqualified, the Hamilton faithful don’t have a lot of confidence that their guy can win even with the faster car.

      1. It isn’t about who wins the championship it is about making sure dangerous driving is punished correctly. Of course you wouldn’t understand that.

    27. Soooo Lewis must think Senna was a pretty disgraceful driver too then….

      1. As Hammy said in 2014 about the Prost/Senna crash at Suzuka:

        “I had just started watching with my dad. When I watch those crashes back nowadays I think, ‘That was cool’. The one in 1989, it’s was very hard to call who is right or wrong. It wasn’t black and white.”

        But revenge is something Hamilton admits he can relate to.

        If someone does you wrong, you feel like going all out for them,” he added.

        Maybe Vettel felt angry and vengeful after Hammy brake checked him.

        Vettel is more like Senna than Hammy.

        1. Hey smartypants…keep commenting everywhere.. just read FIA verdict on Hamilton’s alleged brake testing..It will help you to come out of sleep.

          1. You read it, but did you see the onboard telemetry? Hit the brakes AT CORNER EXIT and went from 90kph to 49 kph. And he kept complaining how unsafe the low SC speed was!

            1. Marian Gri (@)
              25th June 2017, 19:59

              +1

            2. That did not happen. You just made that up. Ham slowed by 9mph from mid corner to corner exit. I doubt it’s even possible to slow down that little by using the brakes on an F1 car.

            3. @the-last-pope https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDLpvqrXgAAAToD.jpg

              Brakes are engaged at corner exit. Fake news. Sad:)

        2. Vettel is more like Senna than Hammy.

          That probably upset Hamilton more than anything. Hence the proposal for the fistfight. Lauda thinks it will happen.

    28. It’s amazing how one sided this discussion is. Yes Vettel messed up and lost control of his car because of his angry reaction, but how about Hamilton brake-testing him? Stewards of course say “no such thing”, but on-board screenshots say otherwise. Then you all wonder why many dislike Hamilton. I personally was very happy when in early 2014 Vettel stopped winning and Hamilton started winning, so something must have turned me off.

      1. +1 Your right on all accounts.

    29. Those that think Hamilton brake tested Vettel need to take their red tinted glasses off and watch the incident again.
      I am in no way a fan of Hamilton, in fact I’d say I probably prefer Vettel but it’s clear who was in the wrong today.
      If you watch the footage shown on sky, you can clearly see that hamilton is doing about 63 kph at the apex of the corner and about 54 kph by the time Vettel rear ends him. That is in no way brake testing, no matter how much you want it to be. If you watch the other safety car restarts you can clearly see that hamilton slowed at that corner in exactly the same way. So for anyone to think hamilton deserved any sort of penalty for the incident either doesn’t know what they are watching and how safety car restarts work…or are just those hamilton hatters that see things the way they want to see them no matter the evidence.
      Had anyone other than Hamilton or Vettel done this, they would have been shown the black flag. Really disappointing that Charlie didn’t have the stones to do the right thing.

      That being said, this is possibly my favourite F1 moment in years! The on-board footage from Hamiltons car is brilliant, cracks me up everytime i watch it!!

      1. He hit the brakes at corner exit

        1. Braking is not the same thing as brake testing you know?

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            25th June 2017, 21:51

            ha-ha-ha NO IT IS BRAKE TESTING because he was testing the entire field’s brakes!!! Anytime Hamilton brakes, he deserves a penalty! He’s been getting away with it for 10 years. It’s gotta stop now. No more braking for Lewis, that’s what I think! And unlimited intentional crashes for Vettel!

          2. How about slowing down abruptly to 47kph while the regulations dictate no abrupt changes in speed when the SC is about to go back in.

        2. Maybe he did touch the brakes, but he was also accelerating at the same time. His job in this moment is to back up the pack and let the safety car get far enough away so he doesn’t catch it once he bolts. At the same time, due to the slow speed behind the safety car, he was trying to generate heat in the front tyres. This is done by braking and accelerating at the same time. So he may well have pressed the brake following the corner.
          The more important factor is his speed. You must have watched the footage and if you look at the speed, it goes from about 63 kph at the apex to around 54 kph when Vettel hits him.

          That is not brake testing. Had they been racing at this moment then you may have a point…but as i mentioned in my previous post, anyone that does think he brake tested Vettel really doesnt understand what they are watching.

          Vettels reaction after the race says that he knew fine well that he had let himself down badly and answered all the questions by trying to deflect the attention onto Hamilton.

          1. He wasn’t accelerating, he slowed down to 47kph at corner exit. Bunching up the field is one thing, erratic changes in pace are another and are not allowed prior to a restart.

    30. Stuppid move by Vettel, but I would have done just the same thing if someone bracktested me. He made it pretty clear to Lewis, don’t try this again. Lewis can think he is like Senna, but he only reminds me of Schumy, for all the wrong reasons…

      Anyway, pro or contra, Vettel made the season interesting again, just when we thougt it would get boring.

      1. Lewis reminds you of Schumi?!? Funny, I would think a German driver who intentionally bumps drivers off the circuit would remind me of Schumi. You Vettel fans are real piece of work.

        1. +10000

    31. Hamilton break tested Vettel ,plain and simply. Hamilton knew that he could get away with it and since it might bother Vettel or damage Vettel’s car ( as it did ) and thus give an advantage to Hamilton in this race and for the season Hamilton unreasonably slowed in contradiction of the rules and all manner of sportsmanship.
      Since ,however, as Niki Lauda famously pointed out : in F1 you are expected to cheat if you want to win , no one should be surprised by what Hamilton did , I certainly am not.
      What is somewhat surprising is that Hamilton would say that Vettel’s conduct was a “disgrace”.
      Both of the drivers acted in a manner which was questionable but saying that retaliation and protest are disgraceful is to insult the intelligence of the viewing public .
      AS was the stewards ruling that what was little more that touching wheels at low speed was “dangerous”.
      Really ?! Verstappen almosts forces Rraikonnen off a straight at over 200 mph and nothing is said but, Vettel bumps Hamilton’s wheel at 25 mph and that is branded “dangerous with points levied against Vettel’s super license.
      It has been said that the F1 stewards treat German drivers as 2nd class citizens while favoring British drivers. The more races I see the more I believe this assertion even in this day and age.
      What is perhaps worse was Hamilton’s assertion that he was concerned that young drivers might copy Vettel’s reactive behavior . Was Hamilton saying that his break checking WAS something that young drivers should copy but, a demonstrative protest to that was a disgrace ? If Vettel should be castigated then so too should Hamilton.
      What Vettel did was foolish and showed a need for behavior control but, Hamilton’s actions were worse because Hamilton’s conduct was the initial aggression and was either purposeful or simply foolish .We don’t want hot -heated competitors but even less desirable are those who plan illegal moves or are just oblivious to their own potentially disruptive and injurious actions .
      Either way he was at least as much at fault as Vettel and should have been equally punished .
      Clearly there was blame to go around but, not just confined to Vettel, Hamilton was just as much at fault or more so and worst of all was ,once again , was the F1 steward .

      1. Hamilton break tested Vettel ,plain and simply

        Hamilton did not brake test Vettel, this is a provable fact. Any statement to the contrary is garbage.

        What is somewhat surprising is that Hamilton would say that Vettel’s conduct was a “disgrace”

        That is because it was. Hamilton knows it, Vettel knows it and any real F1 fan knows it. You should never deliberately drive into another competitor.

        Both of the drivers acted in a manner which was questionable but saying that retaliation and protest are disgraceful is to insult the intelligence of the viewing public .

        Only Vettel acted incorrectly and yes retaliation by deliberately driving into another competitor is disgraceful

        AS was the stewards ruling that what was little more that touching wheels at low speed was “dangerous”.

        They said ‘potentially dangerous’ because, you know, deliberately driving into another competitor is potentially dangerous

        “The stewards decide this manoeuvre was deemed potentially dangerous”

        It has been said that the F1 stewards treat German drivers as 2nd class citizens while favoring British drivers. The more races I see the more I believe this assertion even in this day and age.

        Well that is just laughable

        What is perhaps worse was Hamilton’s assertion that he was concerned that young drivers might copy Vettel’s reactive behavior . Was Hamilton saying that his break checking WAS something that young drivers should copy but, a demonstrative protest to that was a disgrace ? If Vettel should be castigated then so too should Hamilton.

        Hamilton did not brake test Vettel. Hamilton did nothing wrong. In fact Hamilton did 3 near perfect restarts at a track that is probably one of, if not the most difficult track to restart at. A shining example for the junior series :)

        What Vettel did was foolish and showed a need for behavior control but, Hamilton’s actions were worse

        Again Hamilton did nothing wrong, and this comment more than any shows the mentality that Hamilton has to deal with. Even though Vettel deliberately drove into him somehow Hamilton is the bad guy? Your entire comment is a total joke

        “FIA data shows Hamilton didn’t brake-test Vettel in Baku clash”
        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/130388

        1. This graph disagrees with the stewards https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDLpvqrXgAAAToD.jpg

          1. Applying the brakes is not the same as brake testing. I saw the footage, which gives a clearer picture than a single still frame. Hamilton’s speed did not drop appreciably with that momentary application of the brakes. However, Vettel got on the gas, expecting Hamilton to accelerate. He didn’t, but maintained a constant speed, which caught Vettel out.

          2. @spafrancorchamps the one screen graphics are not using the telemetry data the stewards have access to.

          3. @spafrancorchamps That’s not a graph. Hamilton did not “brake test” anyone

    32. This will happen again. This keeps happening because they’ve been insisting on not punishing Hamilton for his inappropriate driving behind the safety car FOR YEARS. This is far from the first time and Vettel is not the first driver to complain about this. Not that it excuses Vettel’s own dangerous driving.

      1. Every driver does it when leading the field round on a restart. In fact I remember How Vettel and Button would almost come to a stop in 2010 and 2011 safety car periods.

        1. It’s not really bunching up the drivers part that is problematic. It’s the unpredictable way he does it, accelerating&decelerating, and catching out the other drivers. This is far from the first incident with Hamilton leading behind the SC. It keeps getting discussed.

          1. It’s the unpredictable way he does it, accelerating&decelerating

            Erm:

            https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/status/879021462329413632

            1. Erm, I did not say he brake-checked. I said erratic driving. Do you people drive cars at all, sometimes I wonder…

            2. kanan: and “Maintained more or less constant speed” is erratic? Really?

            3. @fluxsource Yes actually. Because of the way he should have been driving at that point instead. It’s especially weird that you do that kind of driving after you complain about the safety car being too slow.

    33. What a sore loser Hamilton. He thinks he’s still karting, brake testing someone in an acceleration area of the track? What does he think he’s doing. He’s lucky Sebastian hasn’t thrown him in the wall. And now, he’s using Vettel penalty to raise his voice too. I thought he was a better person, just for a little moment. I was wrong. He never grew up and never will

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        25th June 2017, 21:44

        @nuvolari71 people’s perceptions never cease to amaze me…

        1. Bravo Michael!

          1. My error. Bravo Luca; Micael is an MB tool.

      2. The delusion of the tifosi and Vettel fans is even more ridiculous than his wheel banging.

      3. Yes, you are right. It was clear Vettel had all the right to move alongside Lewis under the safety car and give him a bumb. What was Lewis thinking. Ofcourse Seb had to set him straight

    34. It’s interesting that, regarding the first contact between LH and SV, almost everyone is focusing on the brake-check argument (stewards had all the data they needed at their disposal and deemed that only Vettel broke any rules, so there’s no point in carrying on that argument further).

      Just think about this. Imagine you’re Seb, you KNOW that the safety car is coming in this lap. You KNOW that the lead car controls the pace and will most likely bunch up the pack. But you DON’T KNOW exactly what that pace will be. Yet as you exit the corner you decide to second guess the car in front and begin to accelerate out of it before you know whether the car in front has begun accelerating.

      Had Vettel waited until an appropriate moment to accelerate based on the leading car’s pace control, he would not have run into the back of the Mercedes.

    35. I don’t believe HAM meant to cause VET crash into him but HAM made a bonehead rookie mistake at best.
      He did slow down even though not by much – coming out of a corner not smart.
      Vettel’s anger was warranted but his actions repulsive.
      Both of them are egotistic jerks in their own right.

      1. Vettel was the one accelerating hard when the safety car was still on track and the lead driver was now the one to determine the pace.

    36. Anele (@anele-mbethe)
      26th June 2017, 0:29

      “If he wants to prove that he’s a man, I think we should do it out of the car, face-to-face,” says Hamilton. That’s totally unacceptable from Lewis regardless of what happend

      1. @anele-mbethe Oh, come on! Rivalries like these are good for the sport. Nothing wrong with what Hamilton said.

    37. I’ve read comments saying that the incident was Hamiltons fault. This is complete nonsense, the penalty for dangerous driving was for Vettel banging wheels with Lewis, not running into the back of him(which was still his fault). Vettel doesn’t seem to be acknowledging this though, and is pretending as if he never made the second contact, which shows his maturity level.

    38. What was Vettel thinking! That was such a disgrace. Great race though

    39. Lewis Hamilton has always been and continues to be a dangerous menace to the sport of F1. He is arrogant and a total waste of space on the planet earth. To call Lewis Hamilton a human being is to give beings a bad name. Perhaps the F1 racing gods will bless us with his early departure from this plain to be in heaven…but WHEN!!! HOW ABOUT NOW!!!!

      1. So, in summary, Lewis Hamilton is sub-human and you’d like to see him dead asap.

        What are you even a fan of?

        1. @effwon hmm, where have I hear language like that used before… Is there no way for us to ask @keithcollantine to ban someone posting clearly racist comments, and wishing for the death of a driver?

        2. A motorsports fan
          26th June 2017, 15:01

          Does it surprise you that Vettel fans have anger management problems too?

    40. Hamilton plays the victim card but if he would have wrecked Vettel’s front wing he would have been in heaven right now.
      Black flag them both.

    41. Vettel lost his cool today, not unlike Mexico last year. It matters not one bit what people say or think about Vettel’s actions, but in Maranello it will matter.
      Ferrari lost a potential victory today, and with Raikkonen’s demise, massive points in the constructors championship. Sebastian is supposed to be the team leader, and the calm professional example for the Ferrari brand. That move Vettel did was cheap, and will sour the apples for the rest of the season.
      Much like the Multi 21 scandal of 2013 involving Mark Webber, the real Vettel has been exposed for all to see. As back then, utter ruthlessness was applied and has been again.
      Expect more in the next twelve races.

      1. Multi-21 was no different to Hamilton ignoring a teammate agreement in Hungary 2014 which cost Mercedes a certain victory, it’s no different to Hamilton turning the finale last season into a farce as he tried to cause the pack to crash into Rosberg, and where Rosberg couldn’t attempt a pass on Hamilton because all trust had gone and Hamilton had shown he was capable of stooping to any level to win a championship.

    42. Absolutely, he embarasing him self, even don’t admit the mistake, its like chasing and punching opponent in football, really really same to have 4 world champion who cannot manage emotion, he think who is he? F1 onwner? God? Who can do anything he like?…he should be punished harder…ban for the austrian…otherwise he never learn.

    43. Hamilton talking trash on Vettel about being a num 1, Aha, whos the clown that begged for Bottas to submit to him and was told to wise up.

      A

      1. Don’t get me wrong though, Vettel was out of order. But saying that Lewis slowed down in the wrong place. The safety car was just a dot in the distance.

      2. I was surprised by Hamilton begging for team orders to help him.

        I think Bottas has been told to move over for him three times this year, with Hamilton begging for team interference a further one more time.

        Vettel has had NO team assistance despite being in the slower and having a stronger teammate than Hamilton.

        In Abu Dhabi last year Hamilton was aghast at the idea that the team would ask him to just run his own race rather than try to create an accident between the pack and Rosberg.

      3. Better than begging your ream to retain a 40 yr old driver as your team mate or running away from a team when an average team mate starts beating you

        1. Hamilton got what he wanted. A teammate not much faster than a Felipe Massa about 8 years past his prime.

      4. FreddyVictor
        26th June 2017, 8:38

        @AceAce
        yep, HAM may take some pain regards asking for team mate to help him already – like he expects it now
        perhaps he should have done this last year
        oh now wait !

        @F1 lunatic

        Better than begging your team to retain a 40 yr old driver as your team mate

        better ? really ?
        what 40 yr old driver ?
        if it’s KR, he’s 37 and appears to still be quite fast

    44. On one hand, Lewis should thank Seb for what he did, otherwise he would have lost many more points in the championship race.
      On the other hand, what Seb did should have brought him a black flag. No reason to behave like that, not even in the heat of the moment. Shame!

    45. What’s funny is that Hamilton does the subtle, dirty stuff all over again. Brake testing, calling for team orders to impede the rivals ecc.
      But always manages to get away from it as the innocent one.

      He’s an evil genius, i’m laughing at people believing he did nothing wrong.

    46. To me, this clearly shows why it was a mistake not to punish his road rage remarks about Whiting in Mexico. If they had punished that, mabe Vettel would have learned to control his anger in these kind of situations. Now he showed he didn’t.

      This time it should have been a black flag. The Red Flag offered the perfect opportunity to just tell the team to put the car into the garage and forget about the restart. That way there wouldn’t have been any more risk of the rage getting the better of him. And he would have had a time immediately to cool down and watch his own behaviour and learn to control his anger.

      1. +1. Was surprised after Mexico as well and it certainly paved the way towards this incident

    47. raffaelef195
      26th June 2017, 7:46

      What Sebastian did is something embarassing for a 4 times world champion who is supposed to educate the minor cathegories! is this the example he gives to the younger drivers? Ridicolous

      1. Yeah what a bad role model! He should have called Hamilton for a fistfight instead like Lewis suggested. Great idea from Lewis there. But unfortunately for him, Hamilton didn’t answer his phone.

    48. @bascb

      I completely agree. He’s been let off in the past way too easily because of the Ferrari International Assistance. He’ll always feel privileged and self entitled unless he’s put in his place. He constantly insults other drivers and race officials and then makes the least genuine apologies with his PR drivel.

      No one felt bad for Maldonado when he pulled off the same antics and was penalised for it. Yet, here the finger boy followers and tifosi come out in full swing to defend that self entitled little twerpp.

      There will be more Vettel rage incidents this year… let’s see if they actually go punished going forward.

    49. Vettel could have gone even without penalty. Just remember penalty came raight around time Lewis’s headrest came off.
      Basically stewards gave penalty gave penalty to Vettel to equalise his chances with Lewis.
      So stewards are afraid to break championship, is they do so nobody would watch thoose dull races when champion is determined long before last race.

    50. YOU are the disgrace Hamilton, you clearly wanted Vettel to drive into you. You are disgusting, you deserve a penalty for that.

      1. A motorsports fan
        26th June 2017, 10:17

        Vettel has become a disgrace to the sport the past two years. Cannot manage his anger. Cannot reflect on his own behavior. Refuses to apologize when he needs to. Denies what everyone has seen to be true with their own eyes. The ‘man’ has the personality of a misguided 6 year old.

        Ferrari will need to get rid of him, and they will. Have a look at the faces of the Ferrari crew during the red flag. They were understandably ashamed.

        Lot’s of drivers around that are as fast, popular, much cheaper than Vettel and not hurting the Ferrari brand every other race. You can have a bad weekend, it happens. You can wreck the car, it happens. But you can’t be be the subject of the world’s despise once a month with a Ferrari cap on your head.

    51. “Allow the toyota through….allow the toyota through….”

    52. Very graceful of Hamilton to challenge him to a fistfight instead. Great example for young people.

      1. Hammy’s been watching too many hip hop videos again. Thinks he’s a tough guy LOL.

      2. Care to provide a quote to prove this ridiculous claim? Only thing I can find is

        If he wants to prove that he’s a man, I think he should do it out of the car face to face. I think driving dangerously can put another driver at risk – luckily we were going slow

        No mention of fist fights. All he is saying is that if Vettel has a problem with him he should come speak to him in person like an adult, not crash into him on the track like a child

    53. Hamilton’s just playing his mind games again. You don’t win WDCs by having the best manner, all clever kids should know that.

    54. Vettel should be driving in NASCAR – he’d adapt to it naturally! It’s why I don’t like that sport.

      On another note, Vettel hitting Hamilton was actually to Lewis’ benefit. With the lose headrest Lewis would have lost a lot more points to the title leader who would have walked away with the win were it not for his stop go penalty.

    55. A motorsports fan
      26th June 2017, 15:09

      Deliberately slamming into another car is illegal, braking is not, which Hamilton did not do actually.

      Moreover, provoking Vettel can hardly be called a crime, just like breathing or ordering pizza.

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