Sebastian Vettel: Ferrari appeal against five-second penalty
- Published
"Where was I supposed to go?" Vettel maintains he had no choice but to rejoin the track
Ferrari have appealed against the five-second penalty that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The German was penalised for rejoining the circuit in an unsafe manner and forcing Lewis Hamilton off the track.
Vettel had made a mistake at Turn Three on lap 48 while under pressure from Hamilton, who said he had to back off to avoid hitting the Ferrari.
Ferrari were unable to give any further details of the grounds for appeal.
Team boss Mattia Binotto said: "We are not happy. From our perspective, he could have not done anything else and he was even lucky to remain on track.
"No intention in what he did, he was still ahead and he tried to keep his position and simple as that. We disagree with the decision but we all may have our own opinion."
Vettel said: "It's not making our sport popular with these kind of decisions. People want to see us race and that was racing. It is a shame when we have all these funny decisions.
"I was trying to survive, to keep the car on track. I came from the grass, the tyres were dirty and I was fighting to get back on line and get control back of the car.
"I don't know what I can do differently. It is a very short time. I lost the rear on entry. I had to make the correction. I sailed through the grass. I was lucky not to spin, once I regained control I had a look in the mirror and Lewis was right behind me. I was lucky he did not try to go on the inside and just drive past me."
Vettel's penalty handed Hamilton his seventh win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Hamilton said: "Ultimately the rules say when you go off you have to come back on in a safe manner and I was alongside and I had to back off to avoid a collision and I guess that's why they made the decision."
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "It is clear you want to win on the track in a clean fashion because incidents like this create controversy.
"My view of the incident is that it is very difficult for the stewards to interpret regs so everyone is satisfied and that incident could be judged 60-40 on either side but we mustn't put the stewards under pressure so they struggle even more in the future to come up with consistent decisions.
"Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.
"I think the penalty was what the rules say. it was according to the rules and the stewards acted according to the rules.
"If we are not happy with the rules because we like harder racing, then the stewards will take another decision because the rule will be a different one. Let's get it right for 2021 so we encourage hard racing and then the verdict will be a different one."