Stewards have decided that no further action will be taken on any of the drivers involved in the first lap clash in the Singapore Grand Prix between Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen.
No driver was found to be ‘wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident’, which saw Vettel edge Verstappen into Raikkonen, which ultimately spun one Scuderia Ferrari into the other.
Raikkonen was thereafter out of control of his SF70H, with the Finn collecting both Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen and the innocent Fernando Alonso at the apex of turn one, while Vettel was out a few corners later after spinning into the wall.
“The Stewards examined video evidence and heard from Sebastian Vettel, the driver of Car 5, Kimi Raikkonen, the driver of Car 7, Max Verstappen, the driver of Car 33 and the team representatives,” said the FIA statement.
“Driver of Car 7 had a very good start and was able to attempt overtaking on Car 33 on the left hand side.
“At the same time, Car 5, which had a slower start, moved to the left hand side of the track; Car 33 and Car 7 then collided resulting in a chain collision with Car 5 and, ultimately, Car 14 (Fernando Alonso) at the next turn.
“The Stewards consider that no driver was found to have been wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident and will therefore take no further action.”
I have read so many views on so many forums and those with a balanced opinion seem to think Vettels “chop” on Verstappen well before the first corner was the complete and total cause of this “menage a trois”!!! Vettel knew Verstappen was going to get to the first turn before him, so tried a desperate move to intimidate Verstappen into backing off. Verstappen should not have steered to his left and collided with Raikkonen……..he should have kept a straight line and let Vettel drive into him, which would have placed ALL the blame at Vettels door!! The stewards would have been forced to take some kind of action after Vettel wiped out all 3 drivers races and has probably ruined any chance he had of taking the title fight down to the last 2 or 3 races!