Briton brands Ferrari driver a ‘disgrace’ after track clash
Lewis Hamilton branded Sebastian Vettel a disgrace and offered to deal with his title rival ‘face-to-face’ after the pair came together on track during an acrimonious Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who finished fifth, a place behind Vettel in a chaotic race won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, was deliberately barged by Vettel after the championship leader ran into the back of him.
Vettel accused Hamilton of brake-testing him as he rounded turn 15 behind the safety car. Hamilton, who was leading the race comfortably, denied any wrongdoing, claiming Vettel must have been sleeping.
“I controlled the pace,” Hamilton replied when asked if he had braked deliberately to hamper Vettel. “Like all the other restarts, I slowed down in the same spot. He was obviously sleeping and drove into the back of me. That wasn’t, for me, an issue.
“Driving alongside and deliberately driving into another driver and getting
away pretty much scot-free as he still came fourth, I think that’s a disgrace. I think he disgraced himself today.”
Vettel was given a ten-second stop-go penalty and three-points on his superlicence. Hamilton was penalised by the random failure of his safety harness. While Vettel’s fate was being considered by the race stewards Hamilton was ordered into the pits for a replacement, a development that ultimately cost him victory.
Vettel, pictured, refused to accept that he had behaved inappropriately, pointing out that F1 is a sport for men and blaming Hamilton for the escalation.
Hamilton responded thus: “If he wants to prove that he’s a man, I think we should do it out of the car face to face.
“Driving dangerously which in any way can put another driver at risk. We were going slow. If we’d been going fast it could’ve been a lot worse.
“Imagine all the young kids that are watching Formula 1 today and see that kind of behaviour from a four-time world champion. I think that says it all.”
Vettel said: “Nothing happened [to him] did it? He brake-checked me as well, so what do you expect? I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose but for sure it was not the right move. If I’m struggling, people at the back are struggling even more, so I don’t think it was necessary.
“I got damage, he risked damage. He’s done something similar in China at the restart a couple of years ago so it’s not the way to do it, I think. I raised my hand and told him. I didn’t say anything, but showed him that I wasn’t happy.”