No Review – Ferrari Disappointed

The verdict is final: FIA stewards decided not to review Sebastian Vettel’s Canadian Grand Prix penalty.

This was communicated in document # 48 of the French GP. According to the verdict, Ferrari wasn’t able to present new evidence.

From 14.15 to 14.50 on Friday, Ferrari sports director Laurent Mekies on Friday had the opportunity to convince the stewards to reopen the case. According to FIA, he presented:

Telemetry data from Vettel’s car, video analysis of all available camera settings, video analysis by Sky expert Karun Chandhok, a video of Vettel’s face camera, a comparison of GPS data from Vettel and Hamilton and a statement by Sebastian Vettel. The portfolio of evidence wasn’t enough to convince the stewards.

This concludes the case.

The experts in the paddock still can’t understand their decision. Former world champion Sir Jackie Stewart to ABMS:

“The time penalty for Sebastian is a mistake. He made committed a driving mistake, came on grass and had to handle gas and steering wheel very delicately not to land at the wall, only when he regained control of the car, he could look in the rearview mirror and see where Lewis was. No question, that wasn’t blocking.”

He went on to say:
“Lewis also had all the time in the world to prevent an accident. In short, it was a normal racing situation and not a case for the stewards. In my time, something like this was regulated differently. Either we were glad that the driver in front of us didn’t hit the wall and we praised him for that, or – if they blocked us on purpose we grabbed him after the race and said: You won’t do that again next time – but that was it.”

Former F1 Champion Jacques Villeneuve had a similar view. To ABMS:
“Sebastian prevented an accident with expert skill, and Lewis deliberately hit the gas to complain later. The FIA ​committed a clear mistake, but they don’t take it back because they don’t want to lose face.”

GPDA Director Alexander Wurz:
“The penalty is unnecessary, I saw no willful intention behind it. The GPDA didn’t play a role in the assessment of this case, which I think is a pity.”

*This article was first published in German at autobild.de/motorsport.