VETTEL’S GIFT
LEWIS HAMILTON was gifted a world championship boost last night when Sebastian Vettel was relegated three places down the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix after ‘unnecessarily impeding’ a fellow driver.
The Ferrari man was sent from third to sixth for blocking Renault’s Carlos Sainz on his flying qualifying lap, while Hamilton will start second behind his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
It was Vettel’s sixth crucial mistake during the past year and gives Hamilton every chance of extending his 14-point lead over the German before next Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
Vettel, who crashed on the first lap at Le Castellet in France a week ago, made his latest error during the middle section of qualifying. He was then called to the stewards, who took an hour and a quarter to publish their verdict. The stewards, who reviewed video evidence, team radio exchanges and spoke to both drivers involved, said: ‘Vettel stated he was unable to see Sainz in his mirrors and that his team had not in-formed him of Sainz’s approach, by radio. ‘But notwithstanding the absence of a radio call, and the fact Vettel was unable to see Sainz in his rear view mirrors, Vettel should have been so slow on the racing line during a slowdown lap in qualifying.’ The statement adds that the penalty, for breaching Article 31.5, is in line with all similar incidents since 2016.
News of the verdict reached Mercedes while team principal Toto Wolff was conducting a press conference. He fistpumped the air under the table and let out an exclamation of delight. Small margins, little errors and big decisions may dictate the title’s destiny.
Vettel said: ‘I was looking down. I couldn’t see him. I wasn’t told on the radio, so I can only apologise to Carlos. Obviously, there was no intention. So, that’s it.’
After the decision, as the sun went down on the Styrian mountains which frame the Red Bull Ring, Vettel vowed to ‘focus on the race, now’.
Earlier on the undulating track, Hamilton had found perfection elusive. He ran wide at Turn Two on his penultimate flying lap and, momentum lost, was 0.019sec back from Bottas on his final fling. Vettel was third quickest, three-tenths of a second off the pace, before his summons.
Hamilton said: ‘I made a mistake and when you don’t have your first lap as a banker, you’re building from scratch for the second one.
‘There’s lots to play for tomorrow.’