Vettel now has more penalty points than any driver has ever scored

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix stats and facts

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Sebastian Vettel has become the first driver to get three-quarters of the way towards a race ban after being put on nine penalty points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver was given three penalty points for making contact with Lewis Hamilton during a Safety Car period. That brings him to a total of nine for the current 12-month period. A race ban is automatically applied if a driver reaches 12 points.

Since the penalty points system was introduced at the beginning of 2014 no driver has accumulated more than eight points in a 12-month period. Here’s how Vettel reached nine:

RacePointsIncident
2016 British Grand Prix2Forced Felipe Massa off the track
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix2Caused a collision with Nico Rosberg
2016 Mexican Grand Prix2Drove dangerously (incident involving Daniel Ricciardo)
2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix3Caused a collision with Lewis Hamilton

The largest number of penalty points any driver has been given for a single incident is three. Therefore Vettel is at risk of receiving a one-race ban if he commits a sufficiently seriously offence at the next race.

However this will only be the case at the Austrian Grand Prix, after which Vettel will deduct the two points he incurred at Silverstone last year, and drop to seven. Jolyon Palmer and Carlos Sainz Jnr are currently on seven penalty points, the next-highest after Vettel.

The race saw Daniel Ricciardo take a surprise fifth career victory, from tenth on the grid. The last time anyone started that far back and won was five years ago, when Fernando Alonso won the European Grand Prix in Valencia from eleventh. The last driver to win from tenth on the grid was Kimi Raikkonen in the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix.

All of Ricciardo’s five wins have come from outside the top three places on the grid. He is now tied on wins with world champions Giuseppe Farina and Keke Rosberg, plus Clay Regazzoni, John Watson and Michele Alboreto.

Ricciardo is the fourth different winner of the year and Red Bull are the third different team to win a race. It’s the first time since 2013 – the last year of the V8 era – that more than two teams or engine manufacturers have won a race.

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Had it not been for a faulty headrest, Hamilton likely would have won the race. That would have given him a clean sweep by having won at least once on every track on the 2017 F1 calendar. Instead he repeated his 2016 result by finishing fifth.

Hamilton did take his 66th career pole position, moving him one clear of Ayrton Senna on the all-time list and leaving him two short of Michael Schumacher’s record.

Stroll is the second-youngest driver to finish on the podium
It was a big weekend for Lance Stroll who claimed his first podium finish and out-qualified his team mate. It was the first time a Canadian driver had stood on the rostrum since Jacques Villeneuve finished third at the Hockenheimring in 2001.

Had Stroll done it one race earlier he would have beaten Max Verstappen’s record for being the youngest driver on the F1 podium. Stroll was 18 years and 244 days old yesterday – 12 days older than Verstappen was when he won in Spain last year. However Stroll is the youngest driver to finish on the podium during his rookie season.

Valtteri Bottas had an unusual trip to the podium. He started where he finished, but only after losing 18 places by colliding with Raikkonen, falling off the lead lap and regaining it under the Safety Car, then passing Stroll for second on the line.

The strange pattern of yesterday’s race can be seen in that on lap six the eventual podium occupants were running eighth (Stroll), 17th (Ricciardo) and 20th (Bottas). There were also nine different teams in the ten points-scoring positions – only Renault failed to score.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

    Browse all 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    164 comments on “Vettel now has more penalty points than any driver has ever scored”

    1. Maldonado seal of approval

      1. Came here for this, left satisfied.

      2. Yep, It reminded me of the incident at Spa between Hamilton and Maldonado. This manoeuvre should be called a “Maldonado”

    2. Bizarrely all 5 of Ricciardo’s wins have come on weekends where Hamilton’s chance of winning has been compromised or taken away by car issues.

      Canada 2014 – Hamilton retired from lead with brake failure
      Austria 2014 – Hamilton started from the pit lane after engine fire in Qualy
      Spa 2014 – Tyre puncture while leading the race
      Malaysia 2016 – Hamilton retires from lead with engine failure
      Baku 2017 – Hamilton pits from lead with faulty or badly fitted headrest

      Its probably hard to compile the stats but I wonder if there is any other driver who has such an odd set of circumstances surrounding his wins.

      1. i think you have confused Austria 2014 with Hungary 2014. In Austria 2014 Rosberg won with Ham 2nd.

        1. i think you have confused Austria 2014 with Hungary 2014. In Austria 2014 Rosberg won with Ham 2nd.

          Indeed I have :)

          1. Hamilton was compromised in Hungary 2014 too (engine failure in quali)…so the stat is strangely still valid.

      2. You also have the races such as as Hungary 2015 (if memory serves) where Hamilton compromised Riccardo’s opportunity to win or Monaco 2016 where RBR fluffed Riccardo’s pit gifting Hamilton.

        As has been said many, many times, racing is all about skill and a little bit of luck.

      3. You could replace Hamilton with Rosberg for all races except the 2017 race (of course). If you take Bottas as a stand-in for Rosberg, it’s exactly the same.
        In other words: Ricciardo’s wins are not exclusively related to Hamilton’s misfortunes. Since 2014, the Mercedes has (virtually) always been better than the Red Bull, so that, for Ricciardo to win, major issues for both Mercedes cars were a prerequisite.

        1. You could replace Hamilton with Rosberg for all races except the 2017 race (of course)

          So you can’t infact replace Hamilton with Rosberg

          If you take Bottas as a stand-in for Rosberg, it’s exactly the same.

          Possibly, but your explanation is still lacking. For instance in Hungry (thanks Blazzz) Rosberg had no race disrupting damage or failure nor any issue in Qualifying.

          On top of that apart from Hungry (where Hamilton had no chance to lead due to his engine fire) Hamilton was leading every race.
          The stat I quoted above is the most complete and most concise stat I could put forward for this.

          Ricciardo’s wins are not exclusively related to Hamilton’s misfortunes

          Never said they were. But Vettel for instance has won without major issues for both Mercedes.

          @MaddMe: I am making no comment on merit or what it takes to win. My comment had no intention to make any implication about any driver. It was mere pointing out an odd occurrence.

      4. what is your point??? Hamilton had the best car in each of those races… does he deserve the race wins more than Ricciardo? just because he has a faster car?? did he race faster?? all that matters is who crosses the line first – that is what classifies a win!

        1. does he deserve the race wins more than Ricciardo

          Where did I say anything about deserves?

      5. Five wins for RIC and he has never driven a title winning car, and the only race he truely dominated in his F1 career he lost in Monaco…Amazing!! Imagine what he could do in a Merc or Ferrari

        1. Exactly. The amount of hate-on-DRicc on these forums is astounding. DRicc is now well ahead of MadMaX on points. If MadMaX managed his car and engine better it wouldn’t go bong bong all the time. Pretty easy to out perform DRicc in practice and in qualy when you always have your power train turned up to elevens. Not so good when it packs it in during the race.

          Both Dr Marko and Horner both looked very happy after the race on the weekend.

          1. Who’s hating on Ric? Not me :/

          2. @ Adrian
            You are so wrong!

    3. raffaelef195
      26th June 2017, 12:01

      More than Maldonado? Really?

      1. Indeed. Maldonado had five in 2014 and six in 2015. The most he had during any 12-month period was eight, which was after the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix (and he was back down to five just eight days later):

        https://www.racefans.net/2015/03/29/penalty-points-mount-up-for-maldonado/

        1. raffaelef195
          26th June 2017, 12:17

          Thanks, i never would have thought.

      2. I think some of Maldonado’s misdeeds were before the points system was introduced.

        1. Correct.

          1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            26th June 2017, 18:25

            If I am correct, I think Verstappen may have collected the most or at leased tied with another driver for penalty points in his first season in 2015. Yet everybody said his season was outstanding. He was very good at times, but really messy at other times. He had more incidents that were down to himself to blame during the race than Stroll has had this year.

            1. But Verstappen got penalty points for incidents other drivers would not.
              They were harsher on him because he was a rookie.

            2. Arnoud van Houwelingen
              26th June 2017, 20:50

              that is factually incorrect .. the only time he hit a car that season was Grosjean in Monaco which in my opinion was a brake test by Grosjean. He got penalty points by speeding in the pitlane which was the fault of the car’s pit limiter (the team admitted to that) and twice he got one or two unsafe releases which is of course never the driver’s fault but a fault by the team to let him go out of the pit in the wrong time and he got a penalty for ignoring blue flags but you can see for yourself on the link of the penalty index above. Stroll will never be as good as Max Verstappen that is for sure!

    4. When you haven’t won a championship in 3 year, and want to lead all the driver’s tables

      1. I bet he looked in the mirror and took the finger boy pose once he found out about this stat.

      2. One more stat he absolutely smashes Alonso in. Soon, the only thing Alonso will have left to cheer about is being the driver with most engine failures.

        Oh wait, Verstappen might take that from him.

        1. He actually might, atleast on a couple of occasions Alonso retired with problems not related to the engine right?

    5. Just 2 questions:

      1. Could Vettel’s move into Hamilton have been accidental?
      Not trying to defend Seb (as he clearly didn’t behave like a 4 time WDC), but it seemed to me that he came alongside to gesticulate rather than bump into Lewis just to find himself surprised by the trajectory of its car. I believe he only had one hand on the wheel, the other gesturing furiously, and maybe his feet slipped a bit on the accelerator causing the car to quickly swerve to the right. He might be embarrased to admit this, that;’s why he didn’t say anything about this particular incident in post interviews.

      2. Why isn’t Ocon’s driving against Perez considered dangerous driving?
      That’s got to be in the same ballpark as Vettel’s, right? I mean he left no space, and actually went further into Perez, banging wheels and squashing him into the wall at a far higher speed. As far as i recall, Sainz got penalty points and grid places demotion for a similar maneouver in Canada when he crashed into Grosjean.

      1. raffaelef195
        26th June 2017, 12:09

        point 2. I think it is more diffucult for the judges to give a penalty to someone when he crashes into his teammate because he is supposed to do that not intentionally or at least i think so.

        1. The Ocon/Perez incident was more alike the tufins one on lap 1.

      2. I believe he only had one hand on the wheel, the other gesturing furiously, and maybe his feet slipped a bit on the accelerator

        Does that really seem more likely for a 4 time world champion then him just losing his rag and doing something wrong? Especially since he has a history of this.

        and maybe his feet slipped a bit on the accelerator causing the car to quickly swerve to the right

        His car would only swerve to the right if he span up the rear wheels and broke traction, that did not happen.

        Why isn’t Ocon’s driving against Perez considered dangerous driving?

        Well on the one hand, unlike Vettel’s, Ocon’s incident clearly wasn’t deliberate. I do agree it was bad though. Remember Grosjean got a one race ban for doing the same thing. There have now been 3 incidents in 2 race weekends (Sainz in Canada, Vettel and Ocon in Baku) that were no better than Grosjean’s but no one race ban. If I were RoGro I would be very aggrieved.

        1. Does Vettel have a history of using his car as a weapon?
          I don’t actually remember this.

      3. Point 1 – imo he deliberately turned towards Hamilton, but didn’t intend to actually hit him, but miscalculated as he was flustered and was waving his hands around. Of course, it’s still stupid and unacceptable behaviour.

        Point 2 – Perez was in his blind spot, Ocon was ahead and as he couldn’t see him probably thought he’d dropped back. Also, on the on board, before the braking zone Perez moved across and did bang wheels with Ocon. Additionally, there were so many cars and such little space (although that is also true for Sainz).

      4. Vettel’s side move could have been accidental, but the whole reason his car was in that area anyway was unnecessary and deliberate and he shouldn’t have been there, or should have been more in control of his car.

        Ocon’s move was at speed during an overtake, he was almost ahead and essentially just misjudged how much room he should have left and/or thought he was already ahead. It was a basic racing incident.

      5. petebaldwin (@)
        26th June 2017, 13:03

        I think they are completely different personally……

        One was under a safety car period whilst the race was neutralised with the other one happening during an overtaking manoeuvre involving several cars. On top of that, Vettel deliberately pulled up alongside Hamilton and drove towards him – regardless the contact was deliberate or not…. Ocon tried to overtake Perez and it went wrong but there were no deliberate turns towards each other or any of that – Ocon just tried a move and unfortunately, it didn’t work out

        1. i agree that the incidents were completely different, but i was reffering to dangerous driving… Anyway, what Ocon did was reckless and especially so when against a teammate in a race where they had a good chance of both cars being on the podium or just outside. For a team like Force India, they can’t afford to lose great points like that on a track that suited them best.

          If Verstappen made this move i can’t imagine what people would have said, given how much heat he got around these forums for the move on Vettel in Canada.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            26th June 2017, 14:56

            @gechifan

            I don’t believe Vettel’s behavior has any precedent in racing (as far as I know). He hit Hamilton from the back which is 100% Vettel’s fault which was obvious and also proven by telemetry, then got upset and hit him again.

            Both were under safety car conditions which are supposed to be safe for good reason, not a red bull (fight) demonstration with Vettel turned into Alonso and screaming Ole… What if Lewis rammed into Vettel or tried to get away and so on and so forth. You simply can’t act like a baby bullfighter during the safety car.

            Can anyone think of any behavior like that from anyone in F1?

            1. Lewis has a history of going too slow when safety car leaves…. yes the lead car is in control, but fake starting and then braking is uncalled for… as is driving at super slow pace… Lewis himself was the one complainingg on the radio that the safety car was too slow… and then he slows down to a complete WALK PACE when the safety car is called in, catching out vettel with fake take offs. the next safety car period after this incident between the two was far worse by Hamilton, hitting the accelerator then braking… many times… before finally staying on the accelerator. there is no ruling on how a driver can accelerate and stop before his final acceleration after a safety car, and Hamilton showed the worst of this in that last safety car stop – the car behind is totally succeptible to crashing into him, and you could see on vettels onboard, he nearly hit Hamilton again. Hamilton was not watching his mirrors and did not care about anyone behind him- the rules need to be re written to avoid the incidents of this last GP. When the safety car lights are off, if a driver in front guns it, what choice does the driver behind have but to gun it too?but Hamilton should you can gun it and then brake, then gun it, then brake, then gun it, then brake…etc. dirty driver.

            2. Well, to some extent, the Spa 2011incident where Maldonado cut of Hamilton just after Q2 had finished. He got a 5 place grid penalty for that (bc. it wasn’t clear if HAM could have done more to move out of the way, I think) @freelittlebirds

            3. @freelittlebirds

              He hit Hamilton from the back which is 100% Vettel’s fault which was obvious and also proven by telemetry, then got upset and hit him again.

              Suzuka 1990 seems to be close to this specific part (though not so much your 2nd paragraph)

            4. kpcart You’ve just made most of that up. I’m not even going to bother picking it apart – it’s just simply wrong.

              Additionally, you ask “what choice does the driver behind have but to gun it too?”. The answer is straightforward – leave enough space.

      6. 2) I don’t think the stewards ever considered the possibility of deliberate action, plus it was in the chaos of a restart, rather than the bland environment of a Safety Car period. They may also have decided Estaban was about to get enough of a penalty from his team as it was…

      7. Marian Gri (@)
        26th June 2017, 14:09

        I’m a VET fan, what he did was stupid, no doubt… but was wondering too if it was a plain mistake. And I think too that a driver of his caliber will want everybody else to believe that he’s more of a “bad guy” rather than a “stupid driver” that lost control of his car.

        1. Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella managed to gesticulate at each other and maintain full speed at the same time in the second practise session of Monaco 2009*. I’d expect a 4-time champion to be capable of the same level of multi-tasking, and to have the sense to concentrate on maintaining control of their own car if that capability was in doubt.

          If that is the explanation, then that would oblige me to think of Seb as both a “bad guy” and a “stupid driver”, which is worse than just being thought of as a “bad guy”.

          * – They thought they’d blocked each other, in case anyone is wondering…

      8. “Not trying to defend Seb (as he clearly didn’t behave like a 4 time WDC),”
        Yes you are.

        1. Asking questions is not defending.

      9. Because it wasn’t the other way around. Perez would have been black flagged if that happened

      10. Watch the replay he bounced ovef the curb. And it was actual racing. What Vettel did had nothing to do with the sport. It was a malicous atempt at dammaging Hamiltons car in red mist for Vettel genuinely thought he lost his front wing and didnt want hamilton to get away with it.

    6. I’ve even seen some people call for Charlie Whiting to be removed after he gave a penalty some believe it was too lax. However, I think the trend is for driver punishment to become even more relaxed with Liberty, for that’s more like the American way of racing entertainment, and makes for plenty of discussion and media buzz. Do remember the classic Nascar payback, Vettel basically pulled one, assuming it was intentional. It’s all a part of the show.

      1. I disagree. If they’d black-flagged Vettel, which hardly ever happens, it would be an even bigger story.

        1. @keithcollantine,

          I guess Postreader means long term. Short term it might be slightly bigger (it is already quite big anyway), but long term harsher penalties would lead to less overreactions like this since the penalty is bigger to lose your cool.

      2. To be honest, I hate all these penalties and penalty points nonsense. But what is recently becoming a trend is the Stewards influencing their decisions based on the championship. They did it last year with Rosberg and alluded as much this year with Vettel.

        1. If F1 is not to become a demolition derby, then some penalties are inescapable.

          it’s a tough sport to police, with a lot of decisions about what constitutes unacceptable driving inevitably having an element of subjective judgment on the part of the Stewards (though in this case Vettel was pretty blatantly in the wrong). Overall, they do a reasonable job.

      3. Great, fake scraps in F1. It won’t really work. For all its problems, Formula 1 manages to be real at least.

        Will Hamilton seek revenge? I don’t think he needs too. Vettel’s showing signs of insecurity, based on the general impression that Mercedes have sorted out some of their car issues (tyre warming) and will probably be ahead for the rest of the season. So Hamilton would be best keeping it psychological rather than escalating on track to the point he starts getting penalized.

        1. F1 doesn’t need fake scraps. Part of its entertainment value is the diva behavior of the drivers compared with most series. It’s the biggest soap opera out there.

      4. petebaldwin (@)
        26th June 2017, 13:08

        Personally, I thought it was the equivalent of a footballer punching one of the opposition – a clear red card.

        What happens now if a driver gets spun off early but continues a lap down? Is there any reason to not deliberately drive into their competitors when they know they’ll only get a 10 second stop/go penalty and 3 points?

        1. No. Which is why disqualification and probation is the standard penalty.

      5. I think the trend is for driver punishment to become even more relaxed with Liberty

        Didn’t FIA only sell the commercial rights though?

        1. Correct. The FIA is not allowed to permit Liberty to influence matters of governance, per an agreement made back in 2001. It is not clear whether the FIA has upheld its side of the bargain.

      6. Why would anyone call for Charlie’s dismissal over the penalty? He doesn’t issue the penalties, don’t they come from the stewards after he reports what happened on track?

        1. I can think of several other events on Sunday which are more worthy of criticising Charlie for, than a penalty where he exerted the maximum influence he could by reporting the matter in the first place.

    7. Anele (@anele-mbethe)
      26th June 2017, 12:34

      Ruthless!

    8. All Ricciardo wins have come when Lewis has had problems, Canada 14 (Break failure), Hungary 14 (engine failure in qualifying), Spa 14 (Puncture from Nico), Sepang 16 (Engine failure), Baku 17 (Headrest failure).

      1. He won all his races starting outside the top 3

        1. Proving wins from outside the top 3, top 5 etc etc mean absolutely nothing.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        26th June 2017, 13:09

        I think the same pretty much applies to anyone other than Rosberg if you’re looking at 2014 onwards!

        1. Malaysia 2015, Singapore 2015. All 3 Vettel. No issues for Hamilton in any of those.

          Also, all of Vettel’s races he’s won this year, as well as Bottas’ win.

          1. Chance favours the prepared mind ☺

      3. Great spot. Ricciardo has made a habit of being the driver standing next in line when any other front runners have a shocker – and he was also there at Spain last year until Max got the better strategy.

        1. Ricciardo couldn’t keep his tyres alive.

    9. Andrew Purkis
      26th June 2017, 12:48

      he drove into the back of the race leader UNDER THE SAFETY CAR

      he then deliberatey turned left accelerated to pull alongside to gesticulate UNDER THE SAFETY CAR

      then drove into the race leader UNDER THE SAFETY CAR

      should have been disqualified

      end of

      1. I agree. Just sometimes I’d like Formula 1 stewards, or just Whiting himself, to act decisively. A quick disqualification would have been entirely justified and far more welcome. So what if it’s rare? It’s also rare to see a driver pull alongside another to remonstrate, and then drive into him. Unparalleled actually. In any other sport, you’re off the field of play for that behaviour. Seriously, what’s the issue with sending Vettel off? Just weak authority.

        1. @david-br

          Not true in icehockey you get a time penalty, fans cheer because they like it, and you are back on the ice quite soon.. Comparing penalty patterns among sports is usually not really useful. Also generally speaking penalties should be given according to damage done (none in this case) and future likelihood of repeat (extremely low), so asking for a bigger penalty is just showing you hate Vettel. I hope you are not working as judge in court..

          Well I agree though, Vettel didn’t make any new friends that day, but that doesn’t mean you should give harsh penalties just for the fun of it. Give proper reasons, uniquness is not a good justification for harsher penalties than he got. 10s is stop and go and 3 points seem fair to me..

          1. Ice hockey is a clear exception. Padded up, it’s become a cultural thing, part of the sport.

            Why would I hate Vettel? I’ve no personal connection. I hugely admire his driving and think he has really remarkable courage. His overtake into the first corner for example in Canada was fantastic. It just seems clear that he totally loses it sometimes (Horne: a tourette’s moment!). But doing that in a F1 car, using it as an anger weapon, is seriously not on. Hamilton is right: it’s a question of example. Vettel crossed a boundary and really needs to accept responsibility for that. A harder penalty would have been right.

            1. Yet Hamilton escapes any penalty just because.

            2. @Baron Just because… he didn’t break any rule. It’s really not difficult to fathom.

      2. The Safety Car aspect of it seems to have been treated inconsequentially. When a Safety Car is on track a Marshal could potentially be on track, and the Marshal is at the mercy of the drivers (and their behavior) From lower motorsport divisions and age categories I’ve seen nothing but the upmost respect from drivers when marshaling, they respect that fact that they are putting themselves in potentially risky situations to keep the drivers and spectators safe. The quid pro quo is that when there is a SC or double yellow that you don’t drive like a deranged lunatic. Driving infractions under SC or double yellows should be treated more severely.

        1. the SC lights were already off by that time…that’s why Ham tried to back up the field, because the SC was retiring (and that also means that there are no marshals left on track)

          1. Nope, until they cross the line and get a green flag they are still under safety car conditions, and by that stage marshals are *supposed* to be off track, but communication isn’t flawless, and you sometime see marshals going a bit rouge to recover a bit of debris etc.

      3. There’s one thing that people seem to be overlooking. If the leader can do whatever erratic thing they want under the safety car after the real one goes to the pits and before they start racing, then the incident being behind the safety car at that point really is not even a big point. At that point I would say it’s inconsequential that “THEY ARE BEHIND THE SAFETY CAR” if the leader can do whatever he wants.

        Maybe they should revise those safety car rules as the same rule is being debated for years now anyhow.

        1. Well the rules do actually say that your not suppose to behave erratically….

          40.1
          Drivers must not drive unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed potentially dangerous to other competitors. Drivers may not pit, unless it is to change tyres. They are also not permitted to overtake, except if another driver in front enters the pit lane or slows with an obvious problem.

          When the safety car is ready to leave the circuit it will extinguish its orange lights, indicating to the drivers that it will peel off. Drivers must continue in formation until they cross the first safety car line, where green lights will indicate they are free to race again. However, DRS will not be re-enabled until two racing laps have been completed.

          1. And funnily enough Hamilton has been warned about his erratic driving behind the SC several times now but never gets any punishment.

            At least Sky got what they wanted with Vettel the supposed Arian villain and Hamilton the glorious wonder boy out to slay evil.

      4. The regulations, in this case, do not differentiate between dangerous driving under the safety car and in green-flag conditions: both are banned by the Sporting Regulations under Article 30.13 (@alanore‘s quotation of 40.1 also prohibits dangerous driving under the Safety Car – don’t ask me why the FIA needs two rules for this), and carry the same tariff of penalties (itself only affected by whether it’s a racing accident, an accidental but not “racing accident” event, or deliberate action).

        Alanore is also correct to observe that until Safety Car line 1 is passed, all elements of Safety Car discipline are compulsory; the only difference is that the leading car is treated as the Safety Car for any regulations that reference it. Which means that from a regulatory perspective, apart from anything else… …Sebastian hit a Safety Car.

    10. Just shows how ridiculous the penalty point system is, looking at Silverstone again is laughable that Bottas and Ocon basically did not get penalty point for causing a collision!

      With the way this penalties are being applied a driver like Senna would be averaging 2 race bans per year!

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        26th June 2017, 15:18

        @rockie and Perez this year got penalty points for the national anthem thing!

        1. @omarr-pepper

          No penalty points for that. He received a driver reprimand.

          1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
            26th June 2017, 19:54

            @dragon86 oh, you are right. But I am almost sure that accumulating reprimands also get you a grid penalty. Which, related to missing a ceremony, is nonsense! It’s not as if he was absent on the drivers’ briefing.

        2. And Ocon only missed a penalty for that because he was stuck in an interview, and abandoning it would have earned him a reprimand in itself.

    11. Wow. That is a shocking statistic. A BAR got on the podium in 2001?! Amazing, simply amazing.

      1. +1. That’s exactly what I was thinking

        1. @unicron2002 @dersdrums Twice, actually: Villeneuve came third in Spain as well.

          1. @keithcollantine yeh I looked it up and saw that too. Barcelona was the other one, helped by Hakkinen’s Merc going pop on the last lap. Struggling to remember how he did it in Germany but it was a looong time ago… Burti’s colossal crash at the start may have helped but then this was the day of spare cars so I think pretty much everyone re-started after the red flag. I think there was a red flag anyway. I’m getting old!

            1. Yes, there was a lap 2 red flag for the Burti accident… …on lap 1. Slow reactions to crashes are not new!

    12. Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez became the first drivers to retire twice in the same race which was not red flagged in the first two laps of the race start

      1. I can’t really say they were first. Thinking of Takuma Sato in Canada 2005. “Retired” to the pits, continued later being 24 laps down (that was due to qualifying system those days, so he could overtake some other retiring drivers) and then his car failed few laps from home.

    13. Categorically avoiding answering to the situation afterwards as well… In this stage of his career. Very hard to like the man from now on.

      1. It’s the way he has always been.

        1. Drama queen.

    14. I would like to disagree to a certain point with the whole exaggeration about the vettel incident. He should be penalised for driving along side the leading car under SC but those who claim that he used his car as a weapon or that his hot headed behaviour was dangerous are delusional. I will explain myself: Hamilton repeated his start which at the first time was described by his own mechanics as almost punishable [barely legal] and the whole telemetry thing – which I haven’t seen officially anywhere – only claims by the uk press – proves that he didn’t brake yet he lifted. If HAM fans or the UK press and tabloids believe that driving so slowly isn’t dangerous why bumping tires at the same speed is life threatening? It’s generally accepted that exiting an apex means accelerating so IMHO doing the opposite is dangerous. Vettel should be punished for his behaviour and in general should calm down – he lost a win because of his stupid reactions. But what HAM did IMHO was dangerous both times.All in all the fact that HAM didn’t brake doesn’t prove he didn’t slow down [which he did] and even HAM’s biggest fan [M.Brundle] talks about exaggeration [which surpised me].The continuous articles about vettel’s penalty points or the unanswered calls make me wonder if it’s worth being part of the whole tabloid uk press thing.

      1. Well, Hamilton should be assessed separately from Vettel. But Vettels reaction (even if we deem Lewis at fault for the initial incident) in soccer/football would have delivered him a red card. In many other sports as well. It is simply loosing your cool as a sportsman that is being watched by many. No excuses possible. He got away with it with little consequence (same situation in Mexico, which was also unacceptable and also red card worthy) which shows a underperforming race control as well. Liberty should stress this with FIA.

        1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
          26th June 2017, 15:23

          @mayrton now that you mention Mexico. How was Hamilton’s off track gained advantage (and eventual win) not punishable?
          So the problem here is the way rules are applied for some drivers and not for others. But, the same happens in many sports. Referees are human, so they can make many different kinds of mistakes (they are also exaggeratedly harsh, ask Kvyat).
          I agree with many here that Vettel should have been disqualified. But all the rant about him being a bad example for kids, that he should have gotten a race ban (and I even read somewhere here that he should have gotten a season ban) are so far-fetched that they look like motivated by Hamilton’s press team, a.k.a Sky Sports F1.

          1. @omarr-pepper In my case me calling for a race ban is simply a consequence of the fact that he didn’t get a disqualification. There should be a zero tolerance policy on that kind of behaviour – a 10s S+G hardly seems more than a slap on the wrist.

            Black flag was the right call. They fluffed it. A one race ban would rectify that mistake.

        2. @mayrton I do not think that this is a correct comparison. Vettel shouted at Hamilton and then bumped wheels with him (intentional or not), which happens a lot during races and is never considered “crashing into someone”.

          So if we want to compare this with football, we should be loking at situation when a player feels that he was wronged by another player, goes to give that player a piece of his mind and as they pass, bumps shoulders with him. This happens fairly frequently and it is usually ignored by referees. I have never seen anyone getting red card for bumping shoulders.

          But F1 is not football, drivers should behave better (I feel). So I definitely do not think that Vettel should get away free. But I also feel that conceptually, we should be judgng two separate incidents. Vettel’s trip to Hamilton’s back was dangerous driving and should be punished, but reasonably (it was unintentional), I guess a reprimant or something should be enough.

          His other action should not be treated as a racing offence but as an offence against sportsmanship. Therefore it IMHO makes no sense comparing it to regular racing insidents from the past as some people do. This was a different situation, he simply lost it, and some sporting authority (FIA?) should make clear that this is not accetptable. On the other hand, given that he just bumped wheels, the punishment should not go overboard. I guess the three points and in-race punishment may be sort of reasonable, would not mind even going a bit tougher, however I would not give it for bad driving, but for bad behaviour.

      2. The team concern over the first restart was that it appeared Hamilton almost caught the Safety Car before the line. On subsequent restarts he waited longer before flooring the throttle, but on the corner in question he did exactly the same thing on each restart. It’s Vettel’s own fault he ran into the back of Hamilton, no one else’s.

        If Hamilton had gotten onto the main straight at full speed and braked before the Safety Car line to force everyone to slow down before flooring the throttle again, then we’d have something to go against him, but I don’t think there’s a punishment beyond a warning for that at the moment. Button did somewhat worse where he sped up a bit in China 2009 ahead of the penultimate corner and then slowed right down, forcing the field to bunch right up and start avoiding each other before he got on the throttle again and he didn’t get penalized.

      3. Vettel claimed that Hamilton accelerated then hit the brakes. So are you disputing what the great Vettel is saying?

        Also were you this critical of vettel when he has been leading the safety car start (look back and you will see him doing exactly the same thing as well as every other driver).

        Yes lewis slowed down, this is perfectly legal and fully expected as he was building the gap between himself and the safety car along with trying to get the jump on those behind him. This is standard practice at safety car starts. There is nothing in the rules that prevents hamilton from driving slowly there is just a rule that says it should not be erratic. It was not erratic as he did the same thing on both starts and his deceleration was smooth. Vettel hit him when they came out of the corner at which point hamilton was travelling at a constant speed. Vettel made a mistake and could not stop quickly due to the brake temps. that much is fine and although he should pay better attention, he is also getting ready to try to jump hamilton and mistakes happen. However to then drive straight in to hamilton in a fit of anger is just wrong. Then to ignore the fact he did so after the race when he has had time to calm down is even worse!

        Now driving that slowly would be dangerous if the other cars were at race pace, but they were not and it was the responsibility of the other cars to follow hamilton safely as he was in control of the pace at that point

        You can see the telemetry if you watch channel 4s coverage. Although it is not 100% accurate (it is likely to be fractionally behind the real events) you can clearly see that hamiltons brake is applied at the apex of the corner for a short time and scrubs about 9 mph of his speed. This could be him applying the brake or it could be Kers generation. Either way it is not abnormal to do such a thing at those speeds with brake temps and tyre temps so low. Hamiltons brake then came off as he exited the apex and he remained at a constant speed for about 10 metres before vettel hit him.

        Now vettels behaviour is dangerous as bits of car can come off quite easily when they hit each other plus how was he to know hamilton was not about to hit the accelerator and sprint off? The point is it could have been worse than it was and vettel was not in control of all the elements of the situation. Also it shows a deep problem within him that he thinks it is ok to do such a thing. We saw a much more dangerous version of this when he hit webber a few years ago after seemingly purposefully steering into him as they approached the braking zone of a corner. It simply is not what a professional sportsman is supposed to do, especially a 4 time WDC!

      4. Except you’re entire argument is blown out of the water by Ricciardo (i.e. actual F1 racing driver in race) saying Hamilton was doing what everyone was presuming he’d do: “Look, whether Lewis slowed down or not, he has every right to dictate the pace. He’s the leader, and it was too early for him to accelerate. You’re not going to make the restart out of Turn 15. Seb was probably just a little bit over-excited.”

        So there you go. The real reason was Perez climbing all over Vettel after the first restart. Vettel was anxious to avoid the same and over-anticipated. I’ve seen all the flack being taken by Hamilton – of course he must be to blame! – but it’s absurd. As the stewards stated, he did what he’d done the previous times. The differentiating factor was Vettel under pressure.

      5. I’m not totally disagreeing with what you say just one thing however you seemed to have missed out on and that’s the Lead Driver i.e. Lewis at that time, had complete control of His Speed which is his prerogative therefore controlling the drivers behind him, I must put it to you that Herr Vettel had a lapse of concentration at the wrong moment in time.

      6. In regulatory terms, the provocation and the reaction can justify separate penalties, and provocation cannot justify dangerous driving as a reaction unless all non-dangerous methods of driving have been ruled out or would have induced a worse outcome (not the case here).

    15. Vettel’s run in the back of Lewis was accidental. I guess for Lewis to not back down right after the turn was i guess unexpected. Anyone could have ran into the back of him at that point. Especially since it was the third safety car period and he tried to stay as close as possible. He should have left it alone after that. But he is a cry baby (which is very hard for me to say since I liked him big time at Red Bull). He should have gotten a bigger penalty. But I think since neither car was excessively damaged the penalty was just 10 seconds. Maybe the Stewards did not anticipate that Lewis’s head rest would cause him to lose position. He is trying to be just like his Hero and drive dirty and using all the tricks necessary.
      But I am sooooo happy this all happened, because it gave us a great race result with a new driver on the podium. I am tired of the same people on the podium. I am not sure what some of the long time fans have to say about Hills two run ins with Schumacher in 1995. No penalties there (i know it is not comparable). Hill was my favorite Driver back then.
      I think the big issue is that nobody wants to interfere with the championship (the stewards). If it would have been a non contender hitting Hamilton or Vettel like that…… Black flag or more.
      But whats done is done. Lets just forget about it and be happy we have a feud going. Like Hamiltion had with Massa for a while. Lots of run ins and tensions. But you knew when they get close to each other….. Who knows what happens.

    16. Amazing that he got 2 penalty points for pushing Massa off the track – something Hamilton seemed to do to his teammate every 3 races during 2014-16, with no mentions of penalties.

      1. There is a way to do it that gives the other driver a way out (ie braking). The best race drivers do this very often and it is a perfectly normal racing move. You will see Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, Ricciardo etc all do this and pull it off perfectly, they gradually give less and less room and they are always a good deal ahead of the other driver. However if you literally give the other person no option but to leave the track (ie braking is only going to end in a crash) and you are alongside the other driver then you stand a good chance of being given a penalty.

        Look at the Barcelona Incident with Rosberg and Hamilton. Rosberg was not penalised (although I am not sure I agree) because the stewards deemed that hamilton could have avoided going off the track by slowing down as there was enough room to do so. I personally thought he came across far too quickly, surprising hamilton, but I can understand the decision of the stewards in that incident.

      2. The difference is whether the driver had the right to the racing line. When Hamilton is in front of Rosberg, then he has the right to stay on the racing line. So Rosberg just has to make space. Rosberg did exactly the same to Hamilton when the roles were reversed. In fact any driver will do this.

        When a driver does NOT have the right to the racing line (ie is behind at the braking point) then he has to move out of the way. If they don’t then that’s something you get a penalty for. Rosberg tried to take the racing line for instance in Austria when he rammed into Hamilton and Germany when he shoved Verstappen off. That’s what you get penalties for.

        When you make it really blunt and just dive bomb into someone you get penalty points added as well. So yeah, that’s very bad behavior which gets extra penalty.

      3. I think pure intra-team collisions are treated more leniently by the stewards as they know the assailant (or both drivers, if it was a mutual situation) will be in the doghouse by their teams afterwards…

    17. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      26th June 2017, 13:59

      It goes to show the ridiculousness of the points system – it’s essentially a “get out of jail” card for some drivers.

      Had Grosjean done the same, they would have banned him for 2-3 races.

      Had Maldonado done the same, we would have exiled him to another sport.

      Had Hamilton done it when the stewards used the Hamilton “rule book” to screw him out of every chance to win, he would have been disqualified for the race and the championship.

      This was absurd to watch yesterday especially since the stewards only penalized Vettel after they asked Lewis to come in. It was practically a headrest replacement.

      Absurd and ridiculous. On the good news, thank god for MotoGP. I’m starting to watch MotoGP2 and MotoGP3, the full races and also IndyCar.

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        26th June 2017, 15:26

        @freelittlebirds you seem to forget that Hamilton gets away with many strange situations.
        And Vettel’s punishment was harsh. It’s not his fault that Mercedes team forgot to put the headrest the right way.

      2. @freelittlebirds

        Had Maldonado done the same, we would have exiled him to another sport.

        Maldonado did do the same, or at least something very similar, on two occasions. And both times his penalty was less severe.

        1. And all three of them had the wrong penalty assessed… …which is a large part of the reason that there are three such incidents to discuss this decade.

    18. I think that Vettel needs to take it down a notch or two. He does seem to lose his cool pretty easily and we have had incidents before of him taking things into his own hands. I think he was frustrated by Hamilton’s actions but he over reacted. More to the point he could have damaged his car and therefore his chances in the race.

      I think the stewards took appropriate action and the whole thing should be left behind in Baku. I don’t think he should have been disqualified or any further action taken. I think many media voices, especially in the UK are making a real meal of this.

      Mind you I hope he doesn’t eventually win the WDC by two points or less ;-)

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        26th June 2017, 14:24

        @phil-f1-21 Yeah but you have to look at the sport – when a driver can hit a car by accident, then intentionally hit it after that and get away with it with an equalization penalty to the race leader, it really sets a horrible precedent and makes a complete mockery of the sport.

        It’s the equivalent of asking Chase Carey what he thinks of F1 and him taking his pants off and taking a dump in front of the entire audience of F1 which is what Vettel has essentially done.

        When viewed as an isolated incident, it looks really, really bad. When you realize that it was done by a Ferrari 4 itime WDC, it’s borderline unbelievable.

        When you consider Vettel’s behavior last year which Sam Posey summed up as the “self-appointed steward of F1”, Vettel’s practically turned himself into a mini-FIA with his own rulebook.

        The worst part of this is that they are letting him get away with it. The only appropriate action here are crucifixion by the FIA and canning by Ferrari.

        Either of those IMO are appropriate. The only mitigating circumstance would have been Vettel coming out apologetically after the race and accepting any punishment his team and the FIA will bestow on him along with a firm suggestion that he won’t be “biting” his fellow racers…

        As of yesterday, F1 at this point is no longer a sport, but a show like Cirque Du Soleil.

        1. I would imagine Ferrari will be having a serious word with him. He threw away the win by doing what he did. If he had simply carried on driving and not steered into hamilton then he would have taken a comfortable lead when hamilton had to come in for the headrest change. As it was, he was still able to beat hamilton as ferrari had a degree of flexibility on when they called vettel in while hamilton had to come in due to safety reasons so was then stuck behind traffic. But still vettel threw away the chance to take significant points. Also if hamiltons headrest had not failed then vettel would have thrown away his championship lead and gifted it to hamilton! I can’t see Ferrari being happy with that.

        2. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
          26th June 2017, 15:28

          The only appropriate action here are crucifixion by the FIA and canning by Ferrari.

          @freelittlebirds Wow man, you really remain impartial.

        3. I think your reaction might be bordering on the hysterical. It seems you have more in common with Seb than you might think ;-) You know the whole over-reaction thing?

          How do we know Ferrari will not be administering a canning in private? And as for crucifixion this might be a step too far. After all he’s not the messiah. He’s a very naughty boy!

        4. @freelittlebirds) I think your comment is a little on the hysterical side. Maybe you have more in common with Seb than you think. ;-) I mean the tendency to over-react.

          How do we know Ferrari are not submitting a canning in private? I doubt if they’re exactly happy about it as it puts him more under spotlight in the event of any further controversies.

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            26th June 2017, 22:53

            @phil-f1-21

            It would have been hysterical outside of the context of what happened. People get 1 year bans for much less than that…

    19. Previous time as Finnish and Canadian driver had been together on the podium: German Grand Prix 1998.
      Previous time as Australian and Canadian driver had been together on the podium: Monaco Grand Prix 1981.

    20. It would be interesting to compile a stat showing how often Force India have thrown away potential podiums and race victories.

      1. @malleshmagdum There was one time a victory got away from them near the Netherlands.

      2. If we’re going for “lost” rather than thrown away, I estimate at three (Spa 2009, Brazil 2012, Azerbaijan 2017), but it’s hard to tell because sometimes things go awry too early to be sure it was or wasn’t a podium chance, and I would argue the Azerbaijan one wouldn’t have happened (the podium chance or its loss) if the debris had been swept up properly during the first Safety Car.

    21. Sebastien Vettel is now OFFICIALLY the new Ayrton Senna to me… because he did the naughty!!… stuff Hamilton and his want to be Ayrton… Ayrton did the naughties far more than Vettel yesterday by the way, mainly the way he took out Prost in the Ferrari at Suzuka. I remember Schumacher doing far worse things then Vettel also… I guess the GREATS do these things… maybe Hamilton should do something naughty to be considered a great!

      1. vettel is a joke, he is new Maldonado (i remember he did the same thing in practice in spa, don’t remember the year)

      2. I’d say HAM has done enough of that if that were criteria to being “great”.

      3. Lame. Move on

    22. Given their relative finishing positions it seems like it would have been apt for Vettel to get a 5 second penalty for overtaking under the safety car (the same penalty KMag got 2 weeks ago in Canada). Not only would it have been more consistent stewarding but it would have rightful put Hamilton back ahead on track.

      https://ibb.co/bZDKTQ

      http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article10686945.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/PAY-pxl_f1_azerbaijan_hamilton_vettel_clash_a_07.jpg

      1. I was actually wondering about this. It seems like a none issue and stupid to even look at but technically he did overtake as his car was in front. I know he obviously gave the position back and wasn’t fully ahead ( maybe that’s the rule ?) But he did perform an overtake to some degree under the safety car.

        I’m also surprised they didn’t investigate him running into the back of Hamilton. It actually caused damage to Hamilton’s car whereas Vettel was able to change his wing so it didn’t cause any damage to his race at all. If they ruled Hamilton did nothing wrong then surely Vettel should get two penalties for causing two collisions.

        Overall the penalty was so weak. Vettel was even weaker in his interviews after the race. Talking about being a man while bashing his pram into Hamilton because he made a mistake is one of the most childish things I’ve seen.

        1. Giving the place back before the next timing line is considered full mitigation, at least in general practise.

      2. I’ve got better image for you.

    23. Michael Brown (@)
      26th June 2017, 17:22

      I came here to read stats not the debate about the incident between Hamilton and Vettel.

    24. I agree that bashing into a competitor’s car is a massive over-reaction to any given situation, but to any race driver the act of brake testing is very serious. We know that Hamilton did nothing of the sort but in the heat of the moment IF Vettel genuinely believed he had been brake tested that’s why he was rattled. These guys cannot go hell for leather down any straight slip streaming if they don’t have confidence that the guy in front isn’t just going to back out of it at some random point (you only need to see Bahrain when Bottas let Hamilton through but by lifting off in an un-expected place nearly caused Hamilton to run into him). The question will be what Vettel is like next race to see what his attitude is now that he knows he wasn’t break tested.

    25. As a German,
      watching Formula One since 1995 (8 years old),
      yesterday it was proofed.

      Vettel is made out of the same wood just like Michael Schumacher.
      That’s why Vettel is a 4 times world champion.
      Think of Malaysia 2013 against Webber, or Istanbul 2010.

      And yesterday’s affair made me fall in love with Vettel so much,
      just as it was with Michael Schumacher back in the good old days from 95-06.

      1. Schumacher never was this dumb. Indeed this is just like Turkey 2010 when Vettel threw away a race win due to his lack of control of his emotions. Which in the end could have cost him the championship.

        Vettel is more like what it would be if Maldonado was driving the fastest car of the field with a designated #2 driver as team mate.

        1. So like Hamilton 2011.

          Only Hamilton was acting so stupid that year even Button managed to finish in front of him.

        2. Drop Valencia!
          27th June 2017, 4:13

          MS drove around ignoring a black flag, it was awesome….

          Vettel is flawed but amazing, he has won me over.

      2. @jaegergolf This kind of behaviour DETRACTS from their “great status”, not adds to it. It’s disgusting that people can be actually praising Vettel for this behaviour.

    26. McLaren scoring means that 2016-2017 is the the first time since 2004-2005 that every team has scored at least one point for two consecutive seasons.

    27. Jonathan Parkin
      26th June 2017, 20:17

      This is the first race to have three back to back Safety Car deployments. There are two previous instances of two back to back deployments; 2002 Austrian GP and 2004 Australian GP – I think, it was the race where Liuzzi did a spin on the rundown to Turn 3 after a SC intervention

    28. First red-flagged race not won by Mercedes since Malaysia 2012.

      Hamilton’s pole means that the only tracks that he has raced at but never scored pole are Istanbul, Magny Cours, New Delhi, and Suzuka.

      Still no Baku podium for Hamilton – New Delhi is the only other track that Hamilton has raced at but not finished on the podium. Magny Cours, Valencia, and Yeongam are the other circuits he has never won at.

      Only Palmer, Button, and Giovinazzi have not started a race ahead of their team-mate this season.

      Stroll, Magnussen, and Wehrlein were the only drivers to both start and finish ahead of their team-mate.

      Perez’s first non-finish since Austria 2016 and first non-classified finish since Hungary 2015. Ocon now holds the longest unbroken streak for both of these, having finished all 17 of his races to date.

      Vettel keeps alive his record of at least 1 fastest lap every season since 2009.

      Alonso keeps alive his record of at least 1 point every year since 2003.

      Ricciardo is the second Red Bull driver to win a race despite running as low as 17th at one point – Vettel did the same in India 2013 after a very early pit stop.

      The last 2 races to feature Canadians on the podium were both red-flagged at one point due to debris.

      84th race that Vettel has led – equals Alonso and Prost in 4th.

      First time in 2017 that a car other than a Mercedes or Ferrari led a race.

      Thanks to formula1.com, statsf1.com and magnetimarelli.com for some of these.

    29. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      27th June 2017, 1:39

      What I was waiting for was for Lewis to go over to Seb under the red flag and have a nice “discussion”. That would have been interesting but hey, this battle is apparently no longer a happy go lucky one. Which is awesome.
      F1 has never made me tear up but man, Lance on the podium was a tear jerker. So proud of that kid right now.

    30. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      27th June 2017, 1:48

      Forgot to comment about Flake Villeneuve. Never liked him, him opening his mouth about Lance however true or not about the kids talent was a disgrace considering both are Canadian, which is why Jacques never been too popular in Canada. He’s got a big mouth.

    31. Go Vettel, go Vettel, go Vettel. 10 Second stop and go and you still finish ahead of Hamilton. Amazing keep kicking his behind.

    32. I really enjoy the move of Seb on Hamiton. Keep pumping the boy.

    33. Really happy that Vettel finished ahead that someone cried for to get his teammate help if possible.

    34. What we saw was someone losing their head (Vettel) as a retaliation to something he felt was a deliberate, unfair move to sabotage his race. A Bit like a Prost V Senna Chicane incident in 1989, for example, with, ironically, Hamilton being Prost and Senna Vettel. maybe it really was an unintentional move by Hamilton. Maybe it was just a desacceleration at a moment where Vettel had no visibility and couldn’t see the safety car’s lights go out, or a distraction from the German.

      However, like I said before, this is without a doubt the most excited I’m about a world championship since, I believe, Alonso VS Schumacher. I’m loving seeing these two unique personalities clashing and a new rivalry been born. It really shows why Motorsports is and should always be about the human element as well as the machines. With all the autonomous driving racing nonsense coming around, autonomous cars, this reminds us that Motorsport is about MMan , personalities, mind games, teams of people. I’m, sorry for the Macdonald’s pun here, Loving it! Can’t wait for Austria!

      1. autonomous driving racing nonsense coming around

        It’s HERE! :p

    35. Race laps 2017
      1. Force India- 956 rondjes
      2. Mercedes- 946
      3. Ferrari- 903
      4. Sauber- 829
      5. Haas F1- 809
      6. Toro Rosso- 749
      7. Williams- 745
      8. Renault- 738
      9. McLaren- 716
      10. Red Bull- 685

      1. That statistic surprises me. How does Force India still manage to do the most laps, given the number of times I’ve recently seen pink cars in the scenery and/or struck against other cars?

        1. I don’t know. I just copied this from another site. Could be wrong info.

    36. Question for a stat attack: Before Bottas’ second place, what was the highest position a driver has finished after being able to unlap themselves behind the safety car? I know Max Verstappen finished 8th in Singapore 2015 after he unlapped himself under the safety car.

    37. Verstappen has done the fewest laps this season: 277 in 8 races (~35 per race). Wehrlein who missed 2 races is already more than 1 race ahead (70 laps) ahead at 347.
      His teammate Ricciardo has done 131 more laps (408). The next highest difference between teammates is between Ercisson and Werhrlein (Ericcson has done 77 more laps).

    38. Don’t follow so closely Seb. DUH!!!!

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