Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel switches number boards to declare himself the winner

Sebastian Vettel took exception to the penalty that cost him his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season in the Canadian Grand Prix, and he was not afraid to show it.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel dominated the 2019 Formula 1 season’s seventh race, the Canadian Grand Prix, at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after starting from the pole position, and he was never passed for the lead on the track before the checkered flag flew.

But it was Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton who was officially classified as the winner of the 70-lap race around the 14-turn, 2.71-mile (4.361-kilometer) Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course on Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

On lap 48, Vettel, who was leading the race over Hamilton in second place, went off the track between turns three and four before rejoining the track just ahead of Hamilton, who he had been successfully defending against for the last several laps.

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Vettel, who had nowhere else to go to avoid hitting the wall, ended up forcing Hamilton to check up so that Hamilton did not either hit Vettel’s Ferrari-powered car or the wall.

But after a lengthy investigation, Vettel was issued a five-second time penalty that ultimately cost him what would have been his first victory of the 21-race season, a 1.342-second victory, and effectively handed Hamilton his fifth victory of the season and his third consecutive victory, a d 3.658-second victory.

The 31-year-old German took exception to this penalty that relegated him to a second place finish just barely ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, and he made that clear on the radio and after the race.

But he best displayed his frustration by refusing to line his car up with the cars of the two other podium finishers after the race before the podium celebration.

Instead, he walked down to the empty space that would have ordinarily contained his car, took the “2” number board that was stationed there over to Hamilton’s car, set it down, took the “1” number board that was stationed there over to the empty space and set it down, prompting massive cheers from the crowd — even from many of the Mercedes/Hamilton fans.

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Will the penalty that cost Sebastian Vettel what would have been his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season ignite a fire in him and in Ferrari to get him and the team in back up to the front and competing with Mercedes in the near future? The next race on the schedule is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 23. This race, the French Grand Prix, is set to be broadcast live from Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France on ESPN2 beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET.

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