Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Monza, 2019

Stroll: Vettel’s penalty shouldn’t have been harsher than mine

2019 Italian Grand Prix

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[gmsabu]

Lance Stroll has defended Sebastian Vettel following the collision between the pair in the Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for pulling onto the track in front of Stroll and causing a collision between the pair. Stroll then rejoined the track in front of Pierre Gasly, forcing the Toro Rosso driver wide. The Racing Point driver was given a more lenient drive-through penalty.

Stroll believes the pair should have been treated the same way. “I think it should have been an identical penalty, both a drive-through,” he said. “I don’t know why not.”

“I think that that’s not really fair to be honest because it was exactly the same thing that I did,” he added.

Vettel was also given three penalty points on his licence compared to two for Stroll.

Stroll said there was nothing he could do to avoid the Ferrari after Vettel spun in the Ascari chicane.

“He was literally blocking the circuit coming back on the track in the way he was,” said Stroll. “I tried to avoid him but he just clipped me, coming back on the circuit. He clipped my rear-right and that spun me around.

“Then from there I came back on as well without being able to see anyone coming from my right. I was in the middle of the circuit out of turn 10 so I was just trying to get out of the way and I think something happened very similar to what happened with Seb just coming back on the circuit.”

Additional reporting by Josh Holland.

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36 comments on “Stroll: Vettel’s penalty shouldn’t have been harsher than mine”

  1. Fair comment.

    I agree.

  2. This has upped my respect for Lance Stroll immensely. Because he’s not wrong.
    I sort of understand that the stewards may be thinking, Vettel caused it, so his penalty should be heavier, but the rules don’t follow that. And Stroll is right.

    1. Yep @hahostolze, @phylyp very true. I think Stroll is basically right (though leeway from the stewards ‘circumstances’), though in that case, the stewards should probably have also given Vettel a ‘causing a collision’ or something penalty, which would be for the same event, which also isn’t (I don’t think) really according to the rules.

      1. the stewards should probably have also given Vettel a ‘causing a collision’ or something penalty

        @bosyber – that makes a lot of sense, and is what should have been done. Now you know why you’ll never be a steward.

    2. Vettel’s penalty was not harsh, it was the right call. He unnecessarily endangered a lot of people because he couldn’t wait to get back.

      What they did got wrong was Stroll’s as he did the same thing.

    3. @hahostolze yup. I’m sure the fia wil find a comeback to stroll, they’ll say vettel was on the grass, and has we know Vettel has all control when he is on the grass therefore he shouldn’t have rejoin unsafely.

  3. Hm, that’s generous of him.

    I’m amused by the picture on the top, specifically the crowd in the background: many have two hands raised – either holding a camera/phone aloft, or holding their heads and groaning.

  4. Stroll never ceases to surprise.

  5. Whilst I agree with Stroll on some level, I do think that that the main difference is that Vettel hit Stroll and ruined his race – Stroll didnt hit anyone. In which case the two penalties are deservedly different.

    1. The penalty is handed for ‘rejoining the track in an unsafe manner’. The only reason why Vettel hit Stroll and Stroll didn’t hit Gasly is the fact that Gasly had more time and space to respond to the car coming onto the track than Stroll did. Whether they bumped or not is not too relevant for the penalty here. I think both deserved a 10 second stop/go as they both drove right in front of another car that was approaching them at a 70-80 degree angle and that’s one of the most dangerous situations in single seater racing, as we saw just one week ago.

      1. @xenn1
        But it is the contact that matters most.

        Let’s face it – Leclerc pushed Hamilton off the track, didnt make contact, and got a black and white flag. Grosjean pushed hamilton off the track at spa 2012, made contact, that led to more contact, and Grosjean got a race ban.

        A rather extreme comparison I’ll admit, but hopefully you can see my point.

        1. Yes, indeed, it’s useless that the officials keep saying the consequences don’t matter, only the action when we got such clear counterexamples.

        2. Yeah Masi already said that Vettel’s punishment was harsher because of the contact, i was wrong.

          Also on your extreme comparison: the penalty was going to be just a grid penalty for the other race in normal circumstances, but Grosjean had been a serial offender that year and his actions ‘affected contenders for the championship’, there were several layers to it in comparison to yesterday, where it effectively was an open and shut case

  6. Before any penalties were given, I was thinking the difference that Vettel hit Stroll while Stroll just forced Gasly to take evasive action could give them different penalty, which then happened.

    1. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You can have consistency – in which you punish the infraction regardless of the outcome OR you can have “common sense” approach to the rules, where you punish the outcome, regardless of how we got there. Both can work absolutely fine in professional sports. Most sports use consistency, but sports like rugby do just fine with common sense.

      What you categorically should not do is switch. Even between seasons. Let alone inside of a season.

  7. Vettel caused a collision that almost caused another collision. If Gasly was directly behind Stroll, he could well have collected them both – or sent Lance directly into the Torro Rosso.

    Vettel is also a veteran driver with over 230 F1 races under his belt.

    He deserved a harsher punishment, but let’s be honest, it’s the questions and comments from us fans, the pundits/journalists and other drivers that will hurt him more than any race penalty…

  8. Also technically Stroll wasn’t rejoining the track as his stopping position was already back on the tarmac.

    1. Fair point.
      Or half on track, this half the penalty rounded up ;)

  9. Contact. It was all about contact.

    They had one of the stewards on the skypad after the race and explained the difference between the two events. If Stroll had made contact with Gasly, he would have had the same penalty.

    Davidson said they would be trying to get a steward down after every race to go through their decisions. I hope this pans out.

    1. It was Michael Masi – He’s the new Charlie Whiting. While not a steward, he’s involved with the approach that the stewards take

  10. I completely agree, I was surprised when i saw Stroll get a less harsh penalty for doing the same thing. It doesn’t matter what caused it – he still did the same action.

    1. It’s getting a little annoying that the stewards punish on outcome rather than action too. It doesn’t matter if a different driver took better avoiding action, the driver in the wrong still did the exact same thing wrong. Different timing for the same action could have had completely different outcomes.

      Basically seems if you get lucky, you also get less of a penalty.

      1. Completely agree with you about that : faults should be punished, not consequences. The only reason consequences are taken into account is that they are so much easier to see !

        On the other hand, the faults weren’t completely identical. Vettel left Stroll with nowhere to go, basically ensuring a collision. In the Stroll / Gasly incident, Gasly had slightly more time to react, and it was not inconceivable that he could have avoided Stroll by choosing the other side of the track. Not saying that Gasly did anything wrong of course, but this is enough of a difference.

        I think the penalties were fine, but the statement explaining them wasn’t.

        1. I’m half and half on the faults vs consequences argument. In real life if you push someone down the stairs the sentence you receive is completely dependent on what happens to the guy you pushed. If he gets up and walks away you might get a fine, if he dies you get 20 years…

  11. I believe the stewards took into consideration that Stroll didn’t cause his own accident and was not in a too good position on track.

  12. Top man, I said the same.

  13. Stroll is correct – they both should have been given 10 second penalties!

  14. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    9th September 2019, 0:41

    Very sportsmanlike by Stroll. I do not necesarily agree with him, but very sportsmanlike nonetheless

    1. Or a PR exercise? Me cynical?

  15. Vettel was off the track. Stroll was in the middle of it. How can you get back on track dangerously when you’re already on it? I swear most everyone in F1 appears to have lost a good number of brain cells during the break. And the mechanics appear to still be on a break.

    1. It’s not a recent thing. Balestre castigated Senna at Suzuka for cutting the chicane when he and Prost collided, saying he should have reversed back on track…yeah.

  16. I think stroll shouldn’t have got the penalty at all, he got his race ruined by vettel and kind of pushed into the gasly move, unfair.

    So totally agree with a less harsh penalty, think it’s more than enough, and agree with the one on vettel.

    1. I think stroll shouldn’t have got the penalty at all

      Completely disagree. Whatever the reason he was there, he rejoined the track in an incredibly unsafe manner. That can’t go unpunished, especially given the recent accidents in lower formulas.

  17. I can’t believe I’m defending Stroll here but the real difference was that Stroll was sitting in a very uncomfortable situation, on the racing line, with his cockpit clearly at risk of being barged from the side. I understand him wanting to evade as fast as possible. Vettel was off the track and therefore I can’t fathom why he tried to get back in when he did (plus, yeah, he’s the reason why Stroll had his problem in the first place)

  18. John Stanley-Smith
    9th September 2019, 14:29

    With the halo mounting can a driver see to the side or do they need to add a hole, camera, mirror so they do not pull out into traffic they can’t see?

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