Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff believes that the penalty imposed on Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in Canada Grand Prix is largely justified.
With 22 laps to go, Vettel went across the grass and almost hit Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as he returned to the track on the inside and his rival attempted to go around him.
The German emerged in front and stewards then gave him a five-second penalty for an unsafe return and forcing another car off the track. Vettel held his lead to the end but was only 1.3 seconds in front of Hamilton who thus took the win for Mercedes.
“If everyone, after a few days, still talks about it, it shows the importance of Formula 1. It is not possible to cancel the penalty. In the worst case, the stewards, after reviewing the information, could also decide to sanction Ferrari further.” Wolff said.
“I spoke to Mattia Binotto [the director of Scuderia Ferrari] and he thinks that what happened did not deserve a penalty, I think he’s 100% wrong.
“Vettel left the track. He looked in his rearview mirror and pushed Lewis against the wall. If [Hamilton] had not slowed down, they would have crashed. That’s why he was punished.” Wolff added.
Sebastian Vettel switches marker boards after Canadian Grand Prix demotion. (Source:www.theguardina.co.ouk)
Ferrari is currently studying the possibility of revising the sanction under the FIA International Sporting Code, which allows for additional measures if a new important and relevant element that was not available at the time of the race was discovered.
If the Maranello team decides to follow this path, then it has 14 days after the publication of the official results of the race in Canada – so no later than Sunday for the next Grand Prix de – to adopt this approach and present to the FIA new evidence. Ferrari has not yet declared whether it will continue the procedure.
But for Wolff, the Ferrari team should not look too much to want to absolutely innocent his driver because the stewards could very well punish Vettel with a much heavier penalty.
