Though it was contact with Max Verstappen that ruined his Chinese GP, Sebastian Vettel was more upset with the FIA’s timing of deploying the Safety Car which swung the race in Red Bull’s favour.
Trying to catch and repass Valtteri Bottas after losing the lead to the Finn during the pit-stop phase, the two men were just entering the final corner when the decision was made to send the Mercedes Safety Car on track to clear debris at the hairpin.
A few seconds further back, both Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were called in by their pit-wall to switch onto Soft tyres, a move which would give the latter the pace to overtake four cars and claim victory and see the Dutchman hit the four-time champion when trying to do the same.
But what most disgruntled Vettel was how the decision to pause the racing was taken a lap or two after the original incident, which saw Pierre Gasly hit his Toro Rosso teammate Brendon Hartley.
“I understand if something happens and you have to react straight away, then you can’t always respect where cars are relative to each other,” the 30-year-old stated.
“But we had two laps of the debris on the track, so why not call the Safety Car half a minute sooner and then everybody has the chance to decide whether they pit or not?
“The Safety Car was caught almost straight away, so basically we were taken out of the race there and didn’t have the choice to jump on fresh tyres or stay out.
“In my point of view, it’s not right to send it when you actively change the race.”
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FIA race director Charlie Whiting defended the process he and the other stewards undertook though.
“I don’t look to see who is going to be advantaged or disadvantaged,” he said. “We don’t have time for that. It’s not our job to do that.
“I think we wanted to make sure it was necessary. We didn’t want to do it just on the basis that three or four teams called us to say we need a Safety Car, which happens nearly every time.
“I asked the clerk of the course if they could get it in a gap in the traffic, and he said: ‘No, it’s too much.’ We had to make sure it was justified.”