Hamilton frustrated over soft penalty for Vettel’s ‘crazy’ move
German took out Bottas, says Mercedes driver Victory puts Briton back on top in battle for title
Lewis Hamilton claimed Sebastian Vettel was let off the hook at yesterday’s French Grand Prix, following the German’s first-corner collision with Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton dominated from start to finish on Formula One’s return to France, after a decade away, to claim his third win of the season and move back ahead of his Ferrari rival at the top of the drivers’ standings.
“I am so happy for England,” a jubilant Hamilton said over the Mercedes radio, with his victory coming just two hours after Gareth Southgate’s side’s demolition of Panama at the World Cup.
But Hamilton’s mood later hardened as he watched a replay of Vettel’s crash with Mercedes team-mate Bottas on the 210mph charge to the opening bend at the Paul Ricard Circuit. The British driver shook his head in the green room. “Jeez, he took him right out,” he said. “Oh, man, that’s crazy.”
Vettel was hit with a five-second penalty, which he served during his second pit stop, but it had little effect on his comeback drive from 17th to fifth. The stewards could have given a drive-through penalty which would have cost the German 20 seconds. A stop-and-go penalty would have been closer to half a minute.
Vettel had to come in for a new front wing following the crash. Bottas had a puncture and limped back to the pits for new tyres. The floor of his Mercedes was damaged, too, and he toiled home in seventh.
Hamilton, now 14 points clear of Vettel, delayed his televised postrace media call after he said the camera lighting was too intense. When he emerged, he claimed Vettel’s penalty was too lenient.
“It is definitely disappointing because the team had a chance for a one-two finish,” Hamilton said.
“When someone destroys your race through their error, and they get a tap on the hand, and are then allowed to come back and finish ahead of the person they took out, it does not weigh up. Ultimately, Seb should not have not been able to finish ahead of Valtteri because he took him out of the race.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished as the runner-up to Hamilton, has courted criticism this year following a number of crashes. Sitting to Hamilton’s right, he jovially said: “Next time you see Seb you should ask him to change his style. Honestly, it is not acceptable. That is what they said to me at the beginning of the season. They should do the same to him.”
After banging wheels with Hamilton in Azerbaijan, crashing out in Singapore, tangling again with Hamilton and also Verstappen at the start in Mexico, and running off the road at April’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this was Vettel’s fifth costly mistake in 12 months. “We are all on the edge and fighting for world championships,” Hamilton said in defence of his rival. “We are not out there pootling around. We are putting our lives on the line. It is not like being on a train track. Sometimes you go off. We are only human.”
Hamilton, armed with his new Mercedes engine, has been in em- phatic form in France and, after topping both practice sessions on Friday, putting his Mercedes on pole and then nailing the start, his win yesterday never appeared in doubt.
Even a first-lap safety car, deployed when two of the three Frenchmen competing crashed out as Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly smashed
into the Force India of Esteban Ocon, would not bother Hamilton. He said: “To have this result is a great day for the UK and I hope that I have contributed in a positive way.”
There is no reason for positivity at Hamilton’s old Mclaren employers. This has been a calamitous weekend for Britain’s biggest F1 team. Fernando Alonso, who retired on the final lap with a suspension failure, blasted it as their “worst performance of the year”. Stoffel Vandoorne, his team-mate, could manage only 12th place.
Alonso spun when he was overtaken by Vettel in the early exchanges and then grumbled over the radio as he toiled around at the bottom of the order.
“I have no tyres, no brakes and I am out of the points,” Alonso barked. “I am trying to do whatever. I don’t care too much.” The Spaniard added later: “This was by far the worst performance of the year. I really hope it is a one-off and not the normality.”