Sebastian Vettel lashes out at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix stewards for the time it took them to issue him with a penalty.
The Aston Martin driver was hit with a 10-second penalty after his team failed to fit the wheels on his car before the five-minute signal ahead of the start of the race. However, the penalty was only announced after lap 22 of the race, and the delay compromised Vettel’s chances at the time.
Aston Martin were struck by problems pre-race at Imola, with Lance Stroll’s brakes overheating even before he had left the pit lane.
The team’s mechanics were then working on Vettel’s car on the grid as he too started to suffer overheated brakes, but they exceeded the deadline by which time the wheels have to be fitted and all repairs ceased.
The German joked whether the stewards had been more concerned with fixing the coffee machine than what was happening on the Imola circuit.
“I don’t know why they were so late, it was pretty clear from the start,” Vettel told Sky Germany.
“I don’t know what the stewards were doing – maybe the filter of the coffee-maker was full and they needed to take care of it!”
He added on Sky F1: “The guys tried everything they did and they did really well. They were really alert [to react to the pre-race issues].
“I think we could have had a better race if the FIA was more alert. I think we broke a rule, I guess, seeing as we got a penalty. But they didn’t bother until way into the race.
“By that time, the penalty cost a lot more than it would have earlier in the race, so that’s not very professional.
“But it certainly wasn’t the decider for us today. We had plenty of issues. Not the trouble-free race we were hoping for and a tough day.
“It was good to get some points [with Lance] as we both had trouble. He was lucky he didn’t have to start from the pit lane and my race was a little bit more eventful.”
Asked what he could take from the weekend, a disconsolate Vettel said: “Not much. It was some good time in the car but obviously in terms of results, not much.
“We need to do a better job in a lot of areas. Stuff on our side and we need a bit more grip all around to get in a better place.”
Formula 1 race director Michael Masi suggested the amount of time the stewards took to announce the decision was not particularly unusual.
“I don’t know about taking longer than it should have,” Masi said. “It was obviously reported by the technical delegate.
“Once it was reported by the technical delegate, being the paper report that he presents then appears in the document management system, was at that point that the stewards had a look at the regulations, confirmed the evidence and determined what the penalty was.”
Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer said the team was yet to understand the root of the issue, which also affected Vettel’s teammate Lance Stroll.
“What happened was we overheated the rear brakes and the laps to the grid weren’t at the normal pace that we usually go, so we didn’t get the airflow,” Szafnauer said. “But even with that, we’re aware of that and the settings were such that they shouldn’t have caught fire, but they did unfortunately. So we overheated them but we don’t know why and how.”
