Sebastian Vettel saw the victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve controversially taken away from him on Sunday, with the German reckoning the penalty handed out by the stewards was too harsh for the supposed offence.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver had led the Canadian Grand Prix from the start and was battling with Lewis Hamilton when, on lap forty-eight, he momentarily lost control of his SF90 at turn three, cutting across the grass and re-joining at turn four.
His momentum, coupled with the inability to slow sufficiently on the grass, saw the stewards’ hand him a five-second time penalty for returning to the track in an unsafe manner, with the manoeuvre forcing Hamilton to brake in order to avoid a collision.
“I think we had a great race and the stewards’ decision is too harsh,” said Vettel. “In turn 3, I lost control of my car and I had to run long onto the grass, re-joining at turn 4 ahead of Lewis.
“I couldn’t see where he was, as I was too busy trying to keep my car on track without crashing and I didn’t squeeze him on purpose.”
The five- second penalty saw Hamilton claim his fifth victory of the season at Vettel’s expense, while two penalty points were also handed to the German, making it a total of seven points to his name in the past twelve months.
Vettel had hoped to give Ferrari’s fans their first win of the season and he believes that the majority of the spectators at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and around the globe, would agree that he had the race unfairly snatched away from him.
“I think given the way things went this weekend and even though our rivals’ race pace was very strong, we deserved the win, and I get the impression that lots of the spectators here today at the circuit agree with me,” added the German.
“It’s always nice to race in Canada, I feel a lot of support from the people and it would have been wonderful to have given all our fans the first big result of the season.”
