Sebastian Vettel-Lewis Hamilton Debacle: Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong

The incident between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton during Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix has caused a lot of controversy. Who’s right, and who’s wrong?

Under a Safety Car period during Sunday’s Formula One race at Baku, race leader Lewis Hamilton seemed to slow down a bit before a restart. Sebastian Vettel ran into the back of him and then became frustrated with Hamilton because of it, throwing his hands up in the air. Vettel pulled up beside Hamilton and slammed into him, which forced Hamilton to put his hands up as well.

Fellow competitor and race winner Daniel Ricciardo gave his opinion of the incident to BBC:

"“Seb probably sometimes doesn’t think before he acts. It’s probably driven through passion and hunger. He’s kind of just got to put a lid on it sometimes. I respect Seb a lot for his grit and his love for the sport, which turns into a lot of passion and sometimes aggression. I respect and like that about him. ”“But today you have seen — whether it’s over the radio, sometimes he will just go crazy. It is probably — what’s the word? — spur of the moment? There’s a better word.”"

Here is footage of the incident that has caused this controversy.

Ricciardo later added to his opinion of the incident:

"“Look, whether Lewis slowed down or not, he has every right to dictate the pace. He’s the leader, and it was too early for him to accelerate. You’re not going to make the restart out of Turn 15. Seb was probably just a little bit over-excited.”"

Here are the post-race interviews of Vettel and Hamilton, the two drivers involved in the incident.

Considering Vettel stated himself in his interview that Hamilton probably didn’t brake-check him on purpose, which he didn’t seeing as how Hamilton’s data showed that he didn’t even accelerate as opposed to accelerating and then slowing down, Ricciardo is right.

Vettel, a four-time champion of the sport, should know better than to react like that. He should know how to manage his temper and keep his cool in a challenging situation like that, especially when he admitted himself that Hamilton probably didn’t do it on purpose.

Ricciardo is also right to say that Hamilton is allowed to dictate the pace on a restart. In that case, it is Vettel’s own fault that he ran into the back of Hamilton, so he had no need to be upset, much less slam into Hamilton because of it.

Hamilton felt that Vettel was out of line also, especially seeing as how Vettel only got a 10-second stop-go penalty as a result of the incident and still ending up finishing in 4th place to Hamilton’s 5th.

"“Driving alongside and deliberately driving into a driver and getting away scot-free pretty much, he still came away fourth, I think that’s disgrace, he disgraced himself today to be honest.”"

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Some people may argue that Vettel didn’t hit Hamilton on purpose. When he pulled up alongside of him, he took his hands off of the steering wheel to show Hamilton his frustration, but the wheel was still turned to the right, which sent Vettel into Hamilton.

However, this theory simply does not make sense. During Vettel’s interview, the only contact he mentioned that took place between the two drivers, and he mentioned it multiple times, was when he ran into the back of Hamilton.  Not once did he refer to bumping into Hamilton from the side, and he never mentioned the fact that he risked damage in doing so, instead only mentioning that Hamilton risked damage by going so slowly.

Clearly he knew that he bumped into him, and as a four-time champion, it’s a safe bet to say that he knew exactly what he was doing. But he didn’t mention it in his interview, playing it off as though it did not happen. He didn’t deny doing it on purpose, but despite being asked about it by reporters, he never even referred to actually pulling up beside Hamilton and bumping into him.

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