VETTEL ON TOP AS KIMI TRIGGERS A DAFT F1 DEBATE

Advantage Ferrari. The Italian team has a poor recent history at Silverstone, so Sebastian Vettel’s victory in last weekend’s British Grand Prix is a real warning shot for Mercedes. As Edd Straw argues in our report on p18, Vettel could now be considered title favourite. Vettel and championship rival Lewis Hamilton both put in impressive drives last Sunday. Vettel made a fine pass on Valtteri Bottas to secure his 51st Formula 1 victory, while Hamilton stormed to second after being spun around by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen on the first lap. The different strategies of Ferrari and Mercedes following the late safety car also made the last few laps much more exciting than we expected. What is tedious is the mountain-out-of-molehill debate about penalties for clashes, such as Raikkonen’s Hamilton hit. It would be ludicrous and impractical to issue different penalties based on the amount of time lost by the victim, as some have suggested. Occasionally, as happens in touring car racing, it is appropriate to reverse the order of the two drivers involved, particularly if they finish in consecutive positions. But it is not right to hand out punishments based purely on the outcome of a clash. Sometimes drivers get away with dangerous moves thanks to the actions of others or luck (Michael Schumacher’s start chops, for example), while at other times minor mistakes can have big consequences. Raikkonen’s Silverstone mistake was not dangerous (or deliberate) driving. You could argue it was a racing incident and deserved no penalty at all. Clamping down on dangerous driving is a must, but making all the drivers worried about getting a penalty is unlikely to encourage the wheel-to-wheel racing everyone says they want.

KEVIN TURNER

EDITOR

kevin.turner@autosport.com