Vettel vs Bottas - Was a Five Second Penatly Deserved?

[mceci1]

Racing incident, nothing more, nothing less. People once again are making a drama out of nothing. Max was right saying what did. People complain when the penalties aren't strict, and then when they are, they complain that its too strict. This penalty is the fault of the fans

 

[davewilliams000]

Racing incident, nothing more, nothing less. People once again are making a drama out of nothing. Max was right saying what did. People complain when the penalties aren't strict, and then when they are, they complain that its too strict. This penalty is the fault of the fans

Yeah I agree really. I have commented against Max in the past with his mistakes (some of which was justified, perhaps some not), but I can see what he's saying and he was right to say that.

However, I do find it a bit harsh that Bottas' race was ruined, and then Vettel managed to get around quicker to the pits and so get out in front of him. I guess that's just racing though, if the stewards started telling people to swap positions because of that it would be worse than it is now. If we are going down the route of giving out penalties for these sorts of things though, (and not sure it was warranted in this occasion), then the punishment should be such that the guilty party ends up behind the innocent one.

On this occasion it was just a racing incident IMO.

 

[gecco]

I believe it was an alright decision by the stewards. It was not a deliberate move from Vettel, but rather misjudgement in the heat of the battle, and he paid a dear price himself for that maneuver by having to come into the pits to collect a new nose cone, with all hopes for a podium finish more or less evaporated.
Then, as already mentioned, the biggest punishment will be for him to loose the championship to Lewis if he keeps making such mistakes.

 

[Davide Sciacca]

Well, Vettel is guilty but...let's talk about how FIA suddendly decided to follow the regolations word by word... never seen so many "Incident under investigation" in the entire championship.

 

[wombat999]

Way to many attempts through the entire grid for decades in trying to 'win the race' at turn one on lap one.
It's been raised before but consistency and professionalism is sadly lacking among race stewards.
The FIA needs to form a policy requiring race officials to be qualified and appointed to adjudicate at every race of the season, not the grab bag of locals and former drivers that get their free passes and 'official' hats because they can.

 

[Tberg]

Well, when looking at Bottas his actions in the past taking multiple cars out in the first corner without being penalized... This was not that different. Just a judgement mistake of Vettel. Racing incident imho.

And yes, I dislike the lack of consistency of the stewards. But tonight I watched a part of Indycars at Road America. What a joy to see them race and not being investigated and/or penalized for every fart like in F1. So it is possible...

/edit: to be clear I’m not a fan of how Ferrari seems to be the favorite child of FIA. And yes I found his action just . But he’s only human and makes judgement mistakes. This is racing after all. Not grandma’s knitting club.

After all, FIA = Jean Todt = Ferrari fanboy

 

[Boby Kim]

Let me put it this way: 5 sec for Vettel by ruining other driver race. Same penalty for Sirotkin for driving too slow during the pace car. Vettel made a utterly stupid mistake. Wanted too much, took Bottas with him. Then he pulls an amazing pace which brings him allmost back to the podium. The penalty should have been much longer: 30 seconds or even 1 minute. It should be felt, otherwise it has no point.

 

[ears]

I thought the incident with Bottas was just bad luck, he backed out, tried to avoid contact, had been ahead of Bottas, Bottas went in hot, could have left more room. Penalty was harsh.

This, however, was this even investigated?

Immediately after knocking Bottas out, Vettel returns to the track after having cut the chicane and knowing that he may well have damage.

He joins behind the Haas but then tries some crazy dive down the inside at a non overtaking spot and hits it, forcing it and another car off track.

Was that even investigated?

 

[motoci]

to begin with: racing incident = drivers share fault or unavoidable incident
in this case bottas left plenty of room on the inside and he was in front of vettel anyway
for those who say that vettel did not hit bottas intentionally: of course he didn't. in modern f1 cars the slightest contact results in aero damage or suspension damage
for those who say that vettel was in hamilton's dirty air: that's also true, he had to deal with it, but he failed. imagine the last car on the grid is in the dirty air of other 19 and has to get through in a clean way, so that is no excuse
for those who say that vettel paid the price by having to pit for front wing change. when you cause an incident you're are not given a penalty based on your damage, it is about how much the other drivers suffer
considering he ruined bottas's race and possibly caused the carnage in the midfield (not sure about that though), 5 seconds were not enough (as after pit stops he ended up in front of the one he had hit previusly). in my opinion it was 100% vettel's fault and a drive thtough penalty would have been fair.

 

[Turk]

considering he ruined bottas's race and possibly caused the carnage in the midfield (not sure about that though), 5 seconds were not enough (as after pit stops he ended up in front of the one he had hit previusly). in my opinion it was 100% vettel's fault and a drive thtough penalty would have been fair.

I'd agree with you if it happened on lap 2+, But T1, lap 1, **** happens. I honestly don't know how they manage to get so many F1 cars through the first corner without more incidents.

I'd be borderline give no penalty to Vettel, so 5 seconds seems fair to me.

 

[Giorgos Kostis]

Let me put it this way: 5 sec for Vettel by ruining other driver race. Same penalty for Sirotkin for driving too slow during the pace car. Vettel made a utterly stupid mistake. Wanted too much, took Bottas with him. Then he pulls an amazing pace which brings him allmost back to the podium. The penalty should have been much longer: 30 seconds or even 1 minute. It should be felt, otherwise it has no point.

Thank god you're not a steward.

 

[Jason M Fuller]

I feel like half of F1 racing is just a large group of Vogon lawyers standing behind the chief steward harumphing and tutting while flipping through massive rule books.

 

[Boby Kim]

Thank god you're not a steward.

So you still love me

 

[paracletus]

The crash didn't look like a big deal.
Next.

 

[michelforest]

I've seen worse incidents that were not penalized.

It was a dumb penalty. Incidents happen. Let them race, for Pete's sake!