Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel disagrees with his penalty at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, affirming that he did not impact Sir Lewis Hamilton’s race.
Vettel was pitted early on in the race having been knocked out in Q1, and he bolted on a set of Mediums to go longer into the race.
The German made his second stop onto Hards to get to the end just as Hamilton was battling the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who had been kept out longer after his first stop to fend off the Briton following his only scheduled pit stop of the afternoon.
As the four-time world champion exited, he re-joined right into the path of the battle going on behind him, and Hamilton had to slow down before Vettel eventually allowed both drivers through on the run down to Turn Eight.
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Vettel was penalised as a result, which sent him down from 13th to 14th behind Mick Schumacher, with whom he had a great battle during the race.
The German, who is set to leave the end of the season, was miffed as to the stewards’ decision to add five seconds to his time as, in his mind, there was not a lot more he could have done.
“I knew it was three corners and I was faster, I don’t know who the blue flag and penalty was for,” Vettel told Sky Germany.
“I think it’s funny it takes half the race before you get the penalty, it didn’t benefit anyone, I didn’t win anything and I didn’t cost anyone anything.”
The 35-year-old asserted that losing time behind a lapped car is not out of the ordinary, as long as they eventually move over.
“Losing some time is normal. It depends on where you come out, whether it’s three turns or five, I did it fairly and in a place where they don’t lose any time at all. It’s give and take,” added Vettel.
“Obviously I can’t disappear, I have a different opinion, but it doesn’t matter.”
Team principal Mike Krack sympathised with his driver, but did not necessarily disagree with the stewards’ call.
“It’s always difficult when you come out of the pits with fresh tyres and get lapped by people that have older tyres,” he added, quoted by Planet F1.
“He wasn’t really slower at that point, but I think when you look at it, we went maybe a little bit too long in front of Lewis and you cannot drive one lap in front, so these things happen sometimes.
“We knew we would end up in that situation, we had to pit him.
“He was made aware, but I think he didn’t see it as bad also because he had the pace obviously, and he told us also I have the pace to drive away.
“But if you have the flag, you have the flag.”
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, who started outside the top 10 for Alpine, were both fighting for sixth place towards the end of the race with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who was eventually demoted to eighth due to a penalty of his own.
The Alpine drivers stopped onto Hards early on, and this helped them take advantage of a Virtual Safety Car, so that strategy was an effective one, but Vettel’s race went a little differently after his stop onto Mediums.
“We stopped really early trying to undercut most of the midfield, which I think was correct,” said the 53-time race winner.
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“Then we had a really slow stop, losing like three or four seconds, I’m not sure.
“But obviously then we lost position to Pierre [Gasly], Alex [Albon], Mick, Zhou [Guanyu]. And it was very close with Daniel [Ricciardo], so not ideal really, and then that was it really.”
Vettel’s team-mate, Lance Stroll, had more joy, scoring a point in 10th after a splendid performance from the Canadian.