The Formula 1 paddock reconvened at Circuit Paul Ricard on Thursday, with several drivers offering their view on the well-publicised incident at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel was given a five-second time penalty after he was judged to have re-joined the track unsafely and forced Lewis Hamilton to take evasive action.
It has prompted debate not only about the penalty but about the manner in which racing is policed by stewards.
“I think unfortunately it depends case by case and it is not always that clear,” said Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo. “Even if it is written in the rules they will still use more common sense for a situation.
“Obviously the Vettel-Hamilton one, for the lead, I think you’ve got to let that go and if Vettel squeezes him to a point where Lewis touched the wall and really had to get out of it then maybe it is a different story.
“Sure he squeezed him a little bit but I think a part of that was the line, his trajectory, he was always going to end somewhere near there. If he made it a bit more difficult then so he should, he was fighting for the win and Mercedes has won every race this year.
“I think Vettel, maybe others would have squeeze Lewis all the way into the wall, I think those situations have to be – not favour the underdog – but just be a bit more open-minded with the situation cutting on the grass. It is for a Formula 1 win so it is a big deal.”
George Russell suggested that the ability to slow down footage, and analyse it in depth, can be detrimental for sport.
“Obviously with everything you have to draw a line somewhere,” said Russell. “I think my view is actually just with how the footage was shown there in the moment really didn’t favour the FIA because it went from Lewis’ onboard to an outboard shot and it didn’t look much of an incident.
“I’m not saying the penalty was deserved or not deserved. But I think quite often, I see it in football, when you see replays in slow motion, and slow motion again, in football, someone’s standing two metres away, kicks a football into a guy’s arm and yeah it looks obvious, it’s handball, it’s hit his arm, then at full speed it looks nothing.
“I really feel for the FIA stewards. I’d never want this job because you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
“I think there’s many things the media or fans don’t see behind the scenes, especially what we speak about in driver briefings.
“For example that weekend we spoke a lot about drivers cutting the circuit and not gaining an advantage, but not losing an advantage and not being penalised for it. Many times you see a driver defending, locks up, cuts the track, doesn’t gain anything, doesn’t lose anything, but he’s made a mistake and should be punished.”
Title challenger Valtteri Bottas commented: “I’m a big fan of hard racing but, obviously, fair racing as well. Sometimes I honestly feel… I’m wondering why there’s always the need to give a penalty to one party if there is, for example, a collision between two cars. That’s my view, but obviously there are rules and you need to stick to those.
"But, in general, in my view, I like hard racing and, sometimes, it would be nice to see less penalties. From a drivers’ point of view, honestly, if you go off in a chicane like that, what comes to your mind is to come back to the track as quickly as you can without damaging the car, and that’s what Seb did. But Lewis was there too, I don’t know if he went right on purpose and we’ll never know. As for the decision to award him a penalty, that’s for the others, not for the drivers to discuss.”
Charles Leclerc gave his backing to his Ferrari team-mate.
“I think from the outside it’s pretty clear that Seb lost the control of the car on the grass and then just tried to take back the grip on the track and nothing he could have done differently,” said the youngster. “I don’t think the penalty was justified.”
McLaren rookie Lando Norris also adopted a similar stance.
“Personal opinion? He shouldn't have got the penalty,” said Norris. “It didn't cause a crash. If it did, it just would have been better on TV! It would have been more exciting. It just causes a better rivalry between everyone.
“It didn't cause a crash at the end of the day. He just made a mistake. He lost time overall because of it, and that's that I thought. That's what I think should have happened, he shouldn't have had a penalty.”
