Five-second penalty to Sebastian Vettel hands over win to Hamilton: Canadian Grand Prix
By Abhishek Aggarwal
Montreal, 9 June 2019: Ferrari, the grand old team of Formula 1, had lost its premier standing of late and the 2019 season is no different. Sebastian Vettel, the four-time world champion too, has been struggling to come to terms with his pace adding to the poor quality of performance by the car. But the week-end here at Montreal revived the spirits of the Tifosi as Vettel appeared to have recharged himself to put up a challenge to the Silver Arrows and he truly dominated on Saturday to take the pole position ahead of Mercedes, following amazing practice sessions. But their joy was short-lived.
It was race day on Sunday and all was going well for Vettel. After the pole position in qualifying and the tremendous start, the fortunes of the Red cars seem to have turned turtle once again. The fans call it a jinx. Did someone jinx the German driver’s incredible run when on lap 48… Under heavy pressure from second-placed Lewis Hamilton, Vettel was forced to make a mistake. He lost control of the rear of his car on the entry to the Turn 34 chicane and was forced to go off track on to the grass. He came back and was deemed to have done it in a dangerous manner. The stewards reviewed the incident and imposed a 5-second penalty to Vettel’s time on the grounds of `re-entering the track unsafely’. As a result, though Vettel crossed the chequered flag first, he was eventually adjudged second with +3.658 seconds behind Hamilton. Thus Hamilton continued his good run and won the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
This verdict wasn’t absorbed well by the Italian Red Tifosi which was evident from the mood in the Ferrari stands and supporters in the post-race celebrations. They cheered when Vettel took the No.1 board and placed in front of the area where his car was supposed to be parked.
Team Ferrari have decided to challenge the decision made by the stewards with all the supporting data from the cars involved, different viewing cameras and the telemetry.
It was Lewis Hamilton’s record-equalling seventh Canadian Grand Prix win. When Vettel made the mistake there were 22 laps remaining, in the Canadian Grand Prix, the 7th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday, but his challenge was essentially over with the stewards penalising later.
Leading from the start, Vettel had only relinquished control of the race during his solitary pit stop on lap 26 of the 70-lap race.
The German took the chequered flag 1.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton but was immediately demoted second place, with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc third. Hamilton thus took his 68thcareer win and his seventh at the Circuit Gille Villeneuve, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record for Canadian Grand Prix wins.
“I was pushing to the end to try to get past, but obviously I forced him into an error, he went a bit wide, but then I obviously had a run on that corner and we nearly collided,” said Hamilton afterward. “It was unfortunate but this is motor racing.
“I took the corner normally,” the championship leader added. “When you come back on the track you’re not supposed to go straight back to the racing line, you’re supposed to come on safely.”
When the lights went out for the start, polesitter Vettel made a good start and quickly began to build a lead over Hamilton and Leclerc, with Renault’s fourth-placed Daniel Ricciardo keeping Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly at bay.
Gasly was the first of the top five to make a pit stop, with the Frenchman taking on hard tyres on lap seven. He emerged behind Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, however, and the slower pace of the Canadian driver allowed Renault to eventually pit both its drivers and get them out ahead of the Red Bull.
Gasly’s Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen had started the race from P11 on hard tyres and as the field pitted around him the Dutch driver rose up the order top fifth place.
By lap 20, Vettel held a 2.4s lead over Hamilton, with Leclerc three seconds further back. Bottas was now in fourth place but being pursued by Verstappen.
Vettel made his pit stop at the end of lap 26, taking on hard tyres. Hamilton made his stop two laps later, and after also bolting on hard tyres he emerged four seconds behind the German. At the end of lap 30 Bottas pitted for hard tyres, promoting Verstappen to fourth place.
Leclerc was then next in, and he emerged behind Verstappen. Still on starting hard tyres, the Red Bull driver offered little resistance when Leclerc made a move and by half distance the order again showed Vettel ahead of Hamilton with Leclerc bow third ahead of Verstappen.
Hamilton now began to chase down Vettel and by lap 45 the gap between the front pair was just under a second.
Vettel was now coming under serious pressure from the championship leader and on lap 48 the German driver made a mistake on the entry of Turn 3 and went off track. He managed to keep his lead but in rejoining he squeezed Hamilton towards rthe wall on the exit of Turn 4.
The incident was placed under investigation and race officials handed Vettel a five-second time penalty for “unsafe re-entry”. Hamilton was told the news and was told that to take the win all he needed to do was sit on the Ferrari’s gearbox.
Further back, The Verstappen has finally made his pit stop on lap 48. He took on medium tyres and rejoined in P7. He quickly moved past the Renault’s of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo to claim P5.
Ahead, Vettel took the flag ahead of Hamilton but Hamilton was immediately promoted to the top step of the podium ahead of the Ferrari driver.
Leclerc took third place ahead of Bottas, while Verstappen took fifth place ahead of the Renaults of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Gasly took his fifth points finish of the campaign with eighth place and the final points positions were taken by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat. (With quotes and inputs from FIA release)
2019 FIA Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 3.658
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 4.696
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 51.043
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 57.655
6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1 Lap
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 Lap
8 Pierre Gasly Red Bull 1 Lap
9 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 Lap
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 Lap
11 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1 Lap
12 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 Lap
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1 Lap
14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1 Lap
16 George Russell Williams 2 Laps
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2 Laps
18 Robert Kubica Williams 3 Laps
19 Alex Albon Toro Rosso
Lando Norris McLaren.
