Sebastian Vettel has expressed regret over his moment of anger which would see him bang wheels with Lewis Hamilton prior to a Safety Car restart during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The German would be given a 10-second stop/ go penalty for dangerous driving and would accept full responsibility after being brought in front of an FIA tribunal to avoid any further punishment.
He would blame his red mist moment on a feeling he had been brake-tested by the Mercedes after gently hitting the back of the car at slow speed just moments prior, but acknowledged his actions were irresponsible.
“I felt I let the team down because something that I did obviously cost a race win potentially,” he said in an interview with Autosport.
A month ago in Singapore, many would blame Vettel again for a crash between himself, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen on the run to Turn 1 at the start after moving across the circuit to defend his position.
No action would be taken, with the lack of visibility in the first-ever wet night race taken into account and certainly, the four-time world champion didn’t see his actions at Marina Bay as severe.
“I think Baku was worse,” he stated. “So I think in Singapore, to be honest, the way I look at it, it’s racing and it happens. Obviously, it is extremely unfortunate, but I don’t know how many start crashes there have been in the past and there will be in the future.
“If you happen to be inside them, it always sucks. There is no better way to describe. Did it come in a good time? No. Is there any ever a good time for this to happen? Probably not.
“So it doesn’t matter. It happened. We cannot control it. We need to focus on what we have in our hands and try to focus on things we can control.”
That incident would be the first of three races that have defined the world championship battle with the Ferrari driver having to start at the back in Sepang two weeks later after an engine problem in qualifying, before retiring again a week later following a spark plug failure in Japan.
The result is now a 59-point deficit to Hamilton in the standings with four races to go, meaning hopes for a fifth world title are slim.
