Sebastian Vettel criticises F1 after Canada penalty

Photo/Charles Coates/Getty Images Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel believes Formula 1 has lost its way, in the wake of the penalty that cost him victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel was the first driver across the finishing line at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix – but he did not win the race. Lewis Hamilton won the race in Canada, however, Hamilton was the last driver to lose a win due to a post-race penalty. Vettel is 12th driver to lose a race he ‘won on the road’. “It’s all wrong. I disagree with where the sport is now,” Vettel said. “I really love my racing. I’m a purist. I love going back and looking at the old times, the old cars, the old drivers. It’s an honour when you have the chance to meet them and talk to them; they’re heroes in a way. But I just wish I was maybe as good, doing what I do, but being in their time rather than today. “It’s not just about that decision today, there’s other decisions. Just hear the wording when people come on the radio, that we have now. We have an official language; I think it’s all wrong. We should be able to say what we think but we’re not, so in this regard I disagree with where the sport is now. You have all this wording ‘I gained an advantage, I didn’t gain an advantage, I avoided a collision’. I just think it’s wrong, you know, it’s not really what we’re doing in the car. It’s racing. It’s common sense.” He added: “If there’s a hazard on track, obviously you slow down because it’s quite unnatural to keep the pedal to the floor and run into the car and then say, ‘Ah, it’s wrong that the car was there.’ I rejoined the track and then Lewis obviously had to react. I don’t know how close it was or close he was. “Once I looked in the mirror he was sort of there but for me that’s racing and I think a lot of the people that I just mentioned earlier, the old Formula 1 drivers and people in the grandstands and so on, would agree that this is just part of racing but nowadays I don’t like it. We all sound a bit like lawyers and using the official language. I think it just gives no edge to people and no edge to the sport. Ultimately it’s not the sport that I fell in love with when I was watching. Obviously it hurts me today because it impacts on my race result but I think this more of bigger criteria.”

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