Sebastian Vettel pulled off what will go down as one of the best overtaking moves of the 2011 season to regain the lead from Fernando Alonso in Italy.
Whilst the Red Bull driver stormed to victory after the decisive overtake, which saw him forced onto the grass by the Spaniard, it didn’t stop him questioning the move.
It’s been revealed that Vettel approached the race stewards, which included former driver Derek Daly, and the FIA after the race, requesting they look at the footage to decide whether or not Ferrari driver should have been penalised.
Describing the overtake, Vettel said he had chosen to go to the outside at the last minute, hoping Alonso would see him and give him the required room.
“I decided spontaneously to go left and then I thought, I just hope he has seen me because he kept going left, left, left,” he said.
“There wasn’t much space. I stayed on full throttle but fortunately the corner opened up, I had two wheels on the grass, and then once I was side-by-side he was obviously aware that I was still there and then there was another battle getting onto the brakes, who hit the brakes first. I hit first and then he was quite late but I had the inside so I was quite relieved after I was ahead.”
Alonso took the opportunity to apologise with a simple ‘sorry’ during the post-race press conference, though he admitted he had little to lose from making the pass.
“We have nothing to lose in the battles with Sebastian. He is leading the championship by 100 points I think, so when we have to defend we will be a little bit harder with him. Sorry [directed at Vettel].”
