Here we are, three days after Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton had their little moment together during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the Formula 1 world is still abuzz about what happened.
Well now it’s our turn to have a little say on what took place on Sunday, but, as well as that, to also consider why the FIA is still, reportedly, considering whether or not to take further action against Vettel in front of the International Tribunal Court.
By now everyone knows what occurred. In readying for the restart after the second Safety Car period, Vettel inadvertently hit the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes slightly damaging both cars. In the belief that the Briton had brake-tested him, the four-time world champion pulled alongside shook his first and banged wheels seemingly intentionally.
The stewards in Baku would issue the German with a 10-second stop and go penalty dropping him from the lead and down the order to eighth before he was able to recover and claim fourth.
Now, first of all, telemetry has shown Hamilton did nothing different to that at the first Safety Car restart, only that because he had caught Vettel sleeping on the first occasion, the Ferrari driver was desperate to avoid that happening again, particularly with Sergio Perez and two Williams snapping at his heels.
Hamilton did nothing wrong, should he have been decelerating through a corner, maybe not, but as the lead driver, the pace was his prerogative.
It is then true that Vettel shouldn’t have banged wheels with the Mercedes. Shake a fist? Fine, but to put both cars at risk of damage even at the speed they were travelling was wrong.
However, the penalty justified the deed. The stewards, who have been told to be more lenient this year, awarded the harshest punishment they could other than disqualification and though reckless, taking the Ferrari out of the race for an impulse reaction would have been harsh.
Let’s not forget too, if Hamilton had not had his headrest issue before Vettel’s penalty he would be heading to Austria the championship leader by three points, so why penalise him twice just because the ‘victim’ didn’t gain?
That brings us on to now looking at what should happen going forward.
Think of what this has done for the F1 championship battle, not only do we have the two best drivers of their generation fighting for the title but they now want to beat each other’s face in.
This is Mayweather vs. McGregor on wheels and if you were eating popcorn when the two came close on track before, you’ll need double the amount now.
Also, Vettel’s rage moment came from anger and passion and a determination that F1 has so lacked during the recent eras of domination. We saw how vetted the Mercedes ‘rivalry’ was in Abu Dhabi last year when even without a single thing for the team to gain, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe only had the company’s interest at heart.
Now we have two teams that will stop at nothing to beat each other and in a time when drivers come across as whiny or baby-like certainly compared to the greats of yesteryear, wouldn’t it just be nice to have a proper old-fashioned down and dirty fight between two of the best within reasonable boundaries?
Think about what they’ve pushed each other to so far, the epic battle in Spain, the incredible shoot-out for pole in Canada, both of them are bringing the best from each other and we as fans and Chase Carey as the owner should be promoting that, not have the governing body contemplating additional punishment for a moment of yes, madness.
But why not just let Vettel and Hamilton solve their differences on the racetrack, that way we all get a great fight, Carey gets an awesome product to promote and by the season finale in Abu Dhabi, we will have a world champion that will have earned it. That is far better than hauling someone in front of some jury, Mr President Todt.