Max Verstappen‘s father, Jos Verstappen, believes Sebastian Vettel escaped any sort of punishment for the start-line crash at the Singapore Grand Prix for political reasons, owing to the Germans positioning in the driver’s championship.
Vettel, who is widely believed to be at blame for the incident that removed himself, Verstappen, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso from the race, entered the Singapore Grand Prix just three points behind Lewis Hamilton in what had been up to that point an incredibly intense championship fight.
The start of the race saw Vettel move across the track to defend his lead from a fast starting Verstappen. But with Raikkonen also starting well, Verstappen found himself pinned between the two Scuderia Ferrari’s and the resulting contact saw both Ferraris collide with each other and ultimately retire from the race along with the Dutch teenager.
Jos blames Vettel for the incident but the race stewards saw no reason to award any sort of penalty and the former Grand Prix racer believes it’s because of Vettel’s championship position, although the German is now twenty-eight point behind Hamilton.
“Maybe it’s a political excuse because Vettel cannot allow anything,” Jos told motorsport-magazin.com.
“If they gave a real punishment, the championship will be over. That’s why I do not think there’s anything there.”
