I can't even watch this Belgian GP anymore, I'm fed up of all this nonsense. The organisation of penalties and sanctions was supposed to be improved this year I thought, yet there is still an obvious problem because once again, the wrong decision has been made. Many drivers have made mistakes and gone off the track this weekend, Vettel happened to be alongside another car when it happened; that was the only difference, yet he gets a penalty for it. Why?, the only reason I can think of is because for some reason Vettel isn't allowed to win then championship. It's if there is an unofficial rule that says you get a penalty automaticly if your initials are SV. Being completely honest here, if I was Vettel right now I'd never drive an F1 car again, because if a sport isn't fair then it's no fun. They go on about how they have a former driver up in the stewards box with them now; but I'm sure any expierenced driver would have seen that that was a genuine error on a slippy track, not a delibrate attempt to cause a collision.

You might think that I'm just upset because I like Sebastian Vettel but at this point I would like to point out that this isn't the first time that the stewards have made dodgy decisions.

China:
No penalty for McLaren and Hamilton's unsafe release

Monaco:
Barrichello throws his steering wheel onto the racing line and Massa blocks Hamilton in qualifying but all the stewards are interested in is knocking Schumacher out of the points even when there were green flags waving and everyone else was racing.

Hungary:
Vettel again; very harsh drive-thru for Sebastian when he didn't really do anything much wrong.

So; there we go, it makes Formula One look stupid in my opnion and to say the least I'm not keen on watching a sport that's not fair.

Can you hang on just a second? I want to go pop some corn. BRB.

Personally I think Vettel got off lightly with a drive thru and that the penalties he has recieved have been correct. The fact that others have not been given the correct penalties is a different argument.

I agree that the penalty given to Vettel was not consistent with what we have seen so far this year.

With that said, I have little sympathy with drivers who end rivals races through their own mistakes.

Vettel's penalty in Hungary was completely correct, even though it was not intentional you cannot back up the field like that.
Vettel (and Hamilton) should have been penalised in China.

I'm not a Vettel fan and I will also admit that I quite dislike the chap because of his #1 antics all the time. But I do believe that this was a racing incident where Vettel should not have been penalized for.

Today's penalty wasn't harsh I don't think. He wasn't in control of his car and took out Button.

Thats not me slagging him, just saying what I saw.

oh please

for every example you can give of other drivers getting a light penalty , I can find one where they got a harsh penalty. Similarly vettel has got away with dodgy driving before.

I admit it seemed a bit harsh to me - it was a rookie mistake, he braked too late, didnt take the track conditions into account - but it wasn't malicious , so I can't see the need for a penalty- but given the fact he was involved in 3 incidents in this one race says a lot about his skill when he's not in the lead with a trick floor.

Vettel should be fined for hooning!!!

Well, he blew up button's engine, then ripped off liuzzi's wing...

Even if its without intention, it still doesn't dodge the fact that they are errors. Its like tennis, lets say there's a crosswind, then you serve into it, and the ball goes out as a fault. Do it again, a double fault, a penalty. Yea I know that Vettel was penalised before ripping off poor liuzzi's wing, but it still doesn't discount the fact that he has been worthily punished. Imo, they could have been avoided rather easily if Vettel decided to keep a level head and not be so nervous before every overtake, and be so close to other drivers.

He's fast but that doesn't discount the fact that he really needs to fix his racecraft...

poor Vettel

I was gonna reply with something similar when I saw your comment.

Whilst I understand the sentiment I think you have to say he tried to get into an overtake position in poor conditions and then turned into a World Championship contender. What he did was pretty stupid and has possibly wrecked Button's chance of winning the WC title. He deserved what happened to him and I note the BBC and Mclaren are asking the question 'was the penalty to light?' as I type. I personally don't think they should take it any further but a drive through was fair.

There was no unsafe release since both drivers were released practically at the same time. What made it into an issue was because Lewis had a bit of wheel-spin and ended up next to Vettel. Lewis was by the way penalised in China.



What Vettel did in Hungary was unfair towards all drivers behind him, he broke a clear and present rule and was rightfully penalised for it.



To be honest, I didn't think Vettel would be penalised today, but then again he's been awarded reprimands before as well as taking Webber out in Turkey, so I think this penalty was overdue.

They were.

He was overly aggressive. It was a mistake, to be sure. He tried to pass on the right, then lost control as he choose to try it on the left, failing to take into account for conditions.

There was nothing malicious in hitting Button, but he lost control of his car due to his own actions that resulted in the guy in front having to retire from the race. It could have easily have been avoided had he kept his cool.

A well deserved penalty.

He needs to GROW UP!

ok, ppl mentioning the liuzzi incident just seems ridiculous to me but okay. vettel's treatment by the stewards lately has been disgraceful, specially if you consider that stewarding was really "sensible" earlier in the year when it was hamilton who was involved in lots of dodgy behaviour. I know Hamilton has been unfairly treated in the past, but F1 can't be run like the WWE. Pick a criteria and stick with it. That's all that's needed.

Neither was Kimi when he took out Sutil in Monaco 2008, and he got off scot-free. That said, Vettel has earned up to this penalty whereas Kimi rarely, if ever made mistakes which affected other drivers.

No penalty should ever be given for a simple driving error that is not the result of attempting an excessively dangerous move etc. He lost the car under braking on a damp track, and that is no way a penalty.

Liuzzi was the one who caused the second impact, so thats irrelevant anyway.

I think you've answered your own question there.

SV seriously can't overtake, can he.

Vettel should learn that F1 is not demolition derby.

LOL

it amazes me the vettel fanboys want to ignore the fact he has tried to hit just about every driver this year.
Its overdue and he should get something far harder before he finally kills someone.

Boo Hoo

I demand stoning in Iran.

You can't be serious?

LOL WUT. By trying an overtake, you make yourself liable. Vettel lost control of his car after trying to overtake, hence his mistake and it was even worse for him the moment JB retired.

Did you expect him to get away with murder?

He should have been punished as well for the illegal overtake on Button at Lap 2.

If reprimands are to ever be explained, perhaps it's for this. Repeat offender it's called elsewhere.

maybe you should send him a lollipop

I am not a Vettel fan at all and I think the penalty was very unfair. How is it fair to penalise Vettel for a racing incident? It's not like he just decided not to brake and run him off the road!

In this world when overtaking is not easy, both driver have to take responsibility for such situations, and at some point one that is in loosing position has to yield to ensure there is no collision. Problem is, we do not see it. On the contrary, what we see is that any yo-yo of primadona cut just blames Vettel for his own inadequacies because they know they will get away with it. After all, to penalise Vettel is so fasionable. It started with Mr. Webber in Turkey, and there is no end to it, as we see. I was afraid this might happen, and now my feeling got confirmed. Seb is a marked man, and it will take some changes at FIA, RC specifically, to get it right.

I am still hoping that that Mr. Whiting will retire soon, because I am not sure how he can continue in his function anymore. Him and Stewards had the thing for Schumacher all those years, and now it's Vettel. It's a disgrace to watch F1 these days.

Vettel sees F1 as mario kart...

Do you not draft in Mario kart, get next to your opponent, then drive into them, hopefully ruining their race? I'm pretty sure vettel did that twice this race .

A mistake is a mistake. Although vettel did not want to crash into button and liuzzi, it was an avoidable situation, and nonetheless anyone would be penalised for something like that.

Sorry, but what

Which is why he got only a drive-through.

+1

The incident reminded me of Webber's brain fart in Australian GP... but Vettel was actually executing a planned overtaking attempt..

Fingerboy really needs some sort of coach because he's mentally quite flaky, IMO

I mean a drive-thru penalty. A reprimand may be a penalty in the technical sense but it made no material difference.

How many racing incidents can you be involved in before it turns into a habit and therefore subject to scrutiny?

"Racing incident" is hereby part of racing history.
Clumsy of Vettel though. No matter, penalty totally unfair specially since Vettel hardly gained anything on losing control over hi vehicle.

I think that a reprimand IS a penalty. Who knows, if Vettel didn't have a reprimand from China, perhaps he wouldn't have been given a drive-through today. A reprimand is an official penalty which shouldn't be scoffed off.

Blimey are the rose tinted specs really that hard to see through
Jeezus he took another driver out of 2nd place and carryed on (something he has a record of doing a fair bit) and he should get off scott free?
buy new glasses

He's not exactly graceful is he. Quite a poor year for him thus far.

I agree that it was a silly error by Vettel but he didn't purposely do anything wrong.

It did to me as well, but at the time Webber ran into Lewis, Webber had no lingering reprimands. Before today, Vettel did. Vettel also escaped a penalty from Turkey, so perhaps this penalty was overdue.

Exactly an that guy is a World Champion, which he is not!

Such threads always bring out all the bigotry of the fanboys who don't actualy care about racing. "It's fair because i can't stand the guy"

Like I said in the other thread, Webber didn't take Hamilton out of the race, Vettel took Button out. That's the difference. It may sound "unfair" but yeah sometimes actions (or brain farts) need to be judged by their consequences.

he made a error yet did nothing wronge ?
Human not your first language
surely error IS doing something wronge, he cocked up and got the deserved penalty, he certainly got off better than Button

It's no surprise you lay blame on Button in this incident. No surprise at all




What, no blame on Mansell today.

That's not how it works, and you know it well. How many reprimands did Hamilton have before getting that drive through 'penalty' in Valencia? 3? 5? 100?

Let's not mention the 'lingering' incident caused by Webber in the very same race at Australia. I guess the stewards were busy watching Holyoaks omnibus to notice...

Poor diddums, izzums uzzy wuzzy upset then?

If someone did that to you in everyday traffic, you'd want the police to charge them with dangerous driving.

Vettel seems to involve himself in more collisions than all the other drivers on the grid put together - Are you suggesting that they're all ganging up on him?