Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel accepted his mistake at the start of the F1 Japanese GP as the FIA then clarified why there was no penalty.
In a weekend where Mercedes looked to dominate, Ferrari’s Vettel took a surprise pole with a stunning lap on Sunday morning qualifying. The happiness, though, was short-lived as the Ferrari driver got off to a poor start in F1 Japanese GP at Suzuka.
It helped Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas jump both the red cars to take the lead of the grand prix before even the first corner. Vettel was alleged for a jump start and incident similar to his ex-teammate Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen in Russia.
It looked like a sure penalty until the FIA call. Unlike in Raikkonen’s case, the FIA stewards declared that there was no penalty necessary for Vettel as the movement was within the acceptable limits as caught by the sensor present on the grid.
In their statement, the FIA stated: “The Stewards reviewed video evidence and the jump-start report based on the information from the FIA approved and supplied transponder fitted to each car. Whilst the video shows some movement that movement was within the acceptable tolerance of the F1 jump start system which formerly defines a jump start per Article 36.13(a) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Article 9.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”
As the stewards clarified, there was movement sure but it didn’t look to be too big. It led Vettel to lose momentum which helped Bottas and eventually set the German back. Pot-race, the Ferrari driver accepted his fault for the poor start.
“I had a poor start so I lost quite a lot of momentum when the lights go off,” said Vettel. “A mistake on my side. I had it in my hands, literally, to perform a good start – normally starts are really strong – but obviously we didn’t get it right.
“I don’t know what happened to Charles but we both missed out on the start maybe for different reasons. After that we knew it was going to be a difficult race. Overtaking isn’t straightforward here and obviously in terms of pace it was very difficult.
“We could see in the first stint that Valtteri was just quicker, especially towards the end, and then Lewis was catching. He was basically very close to me when we pitted, so I think overall we got the strategy right to stay ahead.”
Had Vettel not made the mistake, he would have had a solid chance to score the win and keep the Mercedes drivers behind. The no-penalty call, though, could be raised in the next drivers’ briefing with mixed response to the decision.
Here’s how the F1 Japanese GP panned out
Leclerc handed time penalties for Verstappen clash and ignoring pit call
FIA to investigate Racing Point’s protest against Renault, no decision yet
The story was written by Venkatesh P Koushik and edited by Darshan Chokhani
