Former F1 boss Giancarlo Minardi says that he feels Sebastian Vettel couldn’t have done anything different in the incident that defined last Sunday’s race in Canada.
Minardi, who was the original founder and managing director of the eponymous team before selling to Red Bull to become Toro Rosso, has become the latest person to offer his opinion on the penalty handed to Sebastian Vettel that cost the Ferrari driver victory in Montreal.
Writing on his own website, Minardi said that while the letter of the law was carried out, there was no intent on Vettel’s part to cause a blockage for Lewis Hamilton: “The stewards have carried out what the regulations say, but I retain the idea that, in that predicament, Sebastian could not have done otherwise. This is just as almost all his colleagues have confirmed, including Hamilton, except for Nico Rosberg.”
Minardi goes on to explain that, while safety standards must be maintained, the sport shouldn’t be neutered as a result of non deliberate actions: “In light of what has happened, the regulations must be reviewed as they must safeguard safety, without eliminating the melee, the true DNA of the sport, also because I do not understand why the episode, very dangerous, between Ricciardo and Hulkenberg [Editor: Quote is more likely to refer to the much-publicised Ricciardo/Hamilton incident from Monaco 2016) was not penalised.”
“Until the 48th lap, we were witnessing a beautiful fight between the two champions who had created a gap behind them. It is a pity that the second part of the Grand Prix was conditioned by a single, very questionable, episode.”
“Instead of immediately giving the penalty to Vettel, the stewards could have postponed the decision, analysing the telemetry of the two cars with the engines off and viewing the video images, possibly inflicting a penalty on the Ferrari driver for the French Grand Prix.”
“The spectacle and credibility of F1 and Motorsport must be safeguarded. In particular, this episode has tarnished an extremely competitive race but also an aspect that continues to leave me stunned.”
