Vettel faces Silverstone wrath after road rage ends love-in

THE court of public opinion could pass sentence on Formula One’s latest act of skuldug gery on Lewis Hamilton’s home turf of Silverstone.

If Sebastian Vettel goes to the British Grand Prix still leading the world championship from Hamilton next month, he can expect the coldest of welcomes from a British crowd in uproar over the German’s petulant barging that recalled the worst of times in a sport littered with infamy.

Vettel was mentored by Michael Schumacher and has always wanted to emulate his countryman for his astonishing seven world titles and 91 victories.

But it was Schumacher’s more unsavoury moments on the track that Vettel seemed anxious to match yesterday with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix descending into a chaos of shattered carbon fibre and broken dreams.

With Charlie Whiting, the race direc- tor, forced to call out the safety car for a second time after just 18 laps, Hamilton led the field. The British driver, as is his right, controlled the pace but as he turned tight left to follow the safety car, Vettel miscalculated and ran his Ferrari into the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes. Furious — perhaps with himself — Vettel pulled alongside, gesticulating, before he drove at the Mercedes, banging front wheels.

Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, now Sky Sports F1 pundit, who was a victim of Schumacher’s dirty tricks, was quick to condemn.

“That was road rage,” said the 56-year-old. “If you did that on public roads, you would be arrested.”

The race stewards took what in the opinion of many in Baku and on social media was the lenient course of a 10-second drive-through penalty when most onlookers expected Vettel to be disqualified on the spot.

As it was, the penalty turned out to be a get-out-of-jail-free card when Hamilton’s headrest uncoupled itself forcing him to pit for a repair, costing him a convincing victory.

Daniel Ricciardo emerged from the chaos to take a first win of the season for Red Bull ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate, who came from the back after an early tangle with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Lance Stroll, the under-pressure Williams rookie, answered his critics to become, at 18, the youngest driver on a Formula One podium.

Crucially, though, Vettel took fourth with a frustrated Hamilton one place behind him, which meant the Ferrari man increased his World Championship lead over his British rival to 14 points, with the grand prix in Austria next followed by Silverstone.ilverstone.

Hamilton and Vettelttel have been engaged in somethinghing of a love-lovein this season, admiringmiring each other’s brilliance and lauding their respect for each other. Now the divorce lawyerswyers can get busy.

If Hamilton was angry at Vettel’s antics,, he was furious a f tt ee rr hearing the Germann had shrugged thee incident off as one of those things, telling interviewers he was “racing with men”. Someone will need to hold the coats, then, because Hamilton offered Vettel the chance to have the argument man to man off the track. Vettel beware — Hamilton (below) is a karate black belt.

“He got away scot free,” Hamilton said. “He still finished fourth. I think it’s a disgrace. Imagine all the young kids watching Formula One and seeing that kind of behaviour from a four-time world champion. I think that says it all.”

For the neutral, though, the controversial race through Azerbaijan’s capital injected some mucmuch-needed life into the season.

Four safet y cars and a topsy-turvy resresult kept fans on the edge ofo their seats and there is now heightened tension as tt h e season rr ee aa cc hh ee ss ii tt s m i d w a y phase.

As Toto Wolff, heahead of Mercedes MoMotorsport, put ii tt : “The schmoozing is over and the gloves are off.”o