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NO-ONE can accuse Formula One of being boring this season as tempers reached fever pitch at Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The marshals, assisted by a large contingent from Bahrain, were kept on their toes too in an incident-packed grand prix in which Sebastian Vettel was penalised for driving into Lewis Hamilton.
The German still extended his title lead as a loose head restraint cost the Briton victory in a chaotic race won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo that featured three safety cars and several crashes, including clashes between team-mates.
Vettel was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for swerving into Hamilton’s Mercedes as they prepared for a restart at the end of one of three safety car periods in Baku.
But the time Hamilton lost being forced to pit for a new head restraint put him behind Vettel. He followed him past a number of cars as they recovered positions, and closed up as the race entered its final lap, but the Englishman was not able to pass.
Hamilton ended up finishing fifth, a place behind Ferrari’s Vettel, and lost two points to the German. He is 14 points behind after eight of 20 races.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who was last and lapped after the first lap, passed Williams teenage driver Lance Stroll for second on the final straight as the Canadian scored his first podium in his eighth race after a mature drive.
The controversial incident between Hamilton and Vettel happened as they prepared for the restart after the second safety car period.
Vettel ran into the back of Hamilton as he accelerated out of Turn 15, the penultimate corner, damaging his front wing. The German then pulled alongside Hamilton’s Mercedes and drove into it, banging wheels.
Vettel told his team over the radio that he believed Hamilton had deliberately slowed, saying: “He brake-tested me. What the hell is going on?”
Hamilton insisted that there was no hint of him brake-testing the Ferrari ahead of the restart - which the FIA data supported and told his Mercedes engineers: “Vettel literally just came alongside me and hit me.”
When he was informed of the penalty, Vettel said: “Tell me when I did dangerous driving.” Ferrari told him they would discuss it after the race.
Hamilton said over the radio, addressing his remarks directly at race director Charlie Whiting, that he believed a 10-second penalty was ‘not enough for driving behaviour like that - you know that, Charlie’.
Before the stewards delivered their verdict on Vettel’s driving, Hamilton’s race had already fallen apart. He had controlled it from the start, despite the chaos behind him, and was leading Vettel by 2.5 seconds after 28 of 51 laps when the cockpit head restraint padding that protects the drivers from impacts began to lift on the straight.
He rejoined in eighth place and fought his way up past Esteban Ocon’s Force India, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen before the end.
Ricciardo was handed victory by the problems of Hamilton and Vettel but he also had to earn it. He dropped to 17th early in the race with an unscheduled pit stop to clear debris from his brake ducts - but fought his way back.
Hamilton later called Vettel ‘a disgrace’ and demanded that, if they are to clash, they should do so like ‘men’ outside the car.
Vettel was also given three penalty points on his licence, taking him up to nine. If a driver receives 12 in a 12-month period, it triggers an automatic race ban.
“I think ultimately what happened was disrespectful,” said Hamilton. “There are a lot of kids from other classes and categories watching us on TV and to see a multi-world champion who you think would behave better than that, do that - that’s the kind of thing you see in go-karts, which you learn from not doing in karts. I hope that kids don’t see that in F2 and GP3 and think that’s the right way.”
