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Ferrari to appeal Montreal penalty as Vettel fumes

Sebastian Vettel launched into a lengthy rant about Formula One as Ferrari confirmed they will his penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel

Montreal, June 10: Ferrari intend to appeal against the five-second penalty that denied Sebastian Vettel victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, Formula One has confirmed.

The German was first to the chequered flag in Montreal but missed out on his first win of 2019 due to an earlier incident involving Hamilton, who triumphed despite coming second.

Vettel ran wide at turn four on lap 48 and almost pushed Hamilton into the wall when he re-entered the track.

He protested that he had "nowhere to go", but race stewards deemed his actions unsafe and a penalty saw the four-time champion drop to second.

Ferrari lodged an intention to appeal following the race and were given 96 hours to gather evidence before making a decision whether to pursue it.

Vettel complained in an extraordinary rant at the post-race news conference that F1 was no longer the sport that he "fell in love with".

"I don't know what's the procedure now," Vettel said, having dismissed reports he was set to retire days earlier. "I was just thinking that I really love my racing.

"I'm a purist, I love going back and looking at the old times, the old cars, the old drivers. It's an honour when you have the chance to meet them and talk to them; they're heroes in a way.

"So, I really love that, but I just wish I was maybe as good, doing what I do, being in their time rather than today. I think it's not just about that decision today, there's other decisions.

"Just hear the wording when people come on the radio that we have now. We have an official language, I think it's all wrong.

"I think we should be able to say what we think but we're not, so in this regard I disagree with where the sport is now.

"You have all this wording 'I gained an advantage'. I didn't gain an advantage, I avoided a collision. I just think it's wrong, you know, it's not really what we're doing in the car. It's racing, it's common sense.

"If there's a hazard on the track, obviously you slow down because it's quite unnatural to keep the pedal to the floor and run into the car and then say, 'Ah, it's wrong that the car was there'.

"I rejoined the track and then Lewis obviously had to react. I don't know how close it was or close he was.

"Once I looked in the mirror, he was sort of there but, for me, that's racing, and I think a lot of the people that I just mentioned earlier, the old Formula One drivers and people in the grandstands and so on, would agree that this is just part of racing.

"Nowadays, I don't like it, we all sound a bit like lawyers and using the official language. I think it just gives no edge to people and no edge to the sport.

"Ultimately it's not the sport that I fell in love with when I was watching."

A fuming Vettel had told his team radio: "I'm not calm. This is not fair. This is just not fair."

After the finish, he moved the P1 sign placed in front of Hamilton's car to the space where his Ferrari should have been, before bemoaning the stewards' call to the Mercedes star backstage.

Hamilton pulled Vettel onto the top step of the podium with him during the subsequent ceremony, but it was of little comfort to the struggling 31-year-old.

Mercedes have won every race this season and Vettel has not tasted victory since Belgium last year.

Story first published: Monday, June 10, 2019, 15:20 [IST]
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