Four-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton discussed the penalty that was issued to fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in the French Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was issued a five-second time penalty after causing a collision in the first turn of the first lap of the eighth race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the French Grand Prix.
Vettel started the French Grand Prix at the 15-turn, 3.630-mile (5.842-kilometer) Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, Var, France on the inside of the second row in third place. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas started on the front row in first and second, respectively.
Heading into the first turn of the track following the start of the race, Hamilton had the lead with Bottas on his outside. It appeared as though Vettel, who got a good jump on the start but had to lift to avoid hitting Hamilton, had been cleared by Bottas as the first turn approached.
However, that was not the case. Vettel ended up hitting Bottas on the inside as the two drivers to make their way into the first turn. This collision caused damage to the front wing of Vettel’s Ferrari, and it caused the left rear tire of Bottas’s Mercedes to become punctured.
Here is a video of this accident.
A few seconds later, a crash between Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Sahara Force India’s Esteban Ocon brought out a safety car, so both Vettel and Bottas could pit for repairs without losing a ton of time. They came into the pits and restarted the race in 17th and 18th place, respectively.
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As referenced at the beginning of this article, Vettel was issued a five-second time penalty for causing the collision with Bottas. However, he still ended up rallying to finish the race in fifth place and score 10 points, while Bottas was only able to manage to climb back up to seventh and score six points. In fact, Vettel was named the Driver of the Day after his comeback effort.
Hamilton believes that the five-second penalty that Vettel was issued as a result of the fact that he spun out and damaged Bottas’s car was too lenient. Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to Sky Sports.
"“Ultimately, when someone destroys your race through an error and it’s kind of a tap on the hand really – they’re allowed to come back and still finish ahead of that person he took out – it doesn’t weigh up. You shouldn’t really be able to finish ahead of him if you took him out of the race. It’s like when you’re speeding on the road, you break the law and they let you go.“It is challenging [at the first corner], but it’s also not for a four-time world champion. Valtteri was way, way ahead and left him a lot of space. It looks odd because he backed off and was actually OK for the corner… maybe he wasn’t thinking and just ran straight into him.”"
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Do you agree with Lewis Hamilton’s assessment that the penalty that was issued to Sebastian Vettel was too lenient? If not, do you feel that the penalty that was issued to him was just right, or do you believe that it was too harsh?