Ferrari has notified the FIA that it intends appealing against the Canadian GP stewards decision that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in Montreal.

The stewards, who include five-time Le Mans winner, and former F1 driver, Emanuele Pirro, deemed that Vettel left the track at Turn 3 and rejoined at Turn 4 in an unsafe manner and forced Lewis Hamilton off track, causing the world champion to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Handing Vettel a 5s time penalty which was to cost him the race, they also awarded him 2 points on his licence, thereby bringing his 12 month total to 7.

Several hours after the end of the race, the Italian team notified the FIA that it intends appealing the decision, and now has 96 hours in which to decide whether to proceed or not.

If it does opt to proceed with the appeal, it would either be heard by the FIA's International Court of Appeal or the court could simply decide that the appeal is inadmissible, in-race time penalties usually considered to be among the punishments that cannot be appealed.

The penalty has split the sport, with drivers, team bosses, media and fans clearly divided, with many saying it was a racing incident while others argue that Vettel made a mistake and the punishment was justified.

"It's sad," said Jenson Button, a former winn in Montreal. "It's disappointing when there's a proper fight on out on track between two great, multiple world champions, and then the stewards are able to come in and take that away from us viewers, It's a shame. For me, it's a racing incident.

"Yes, Seb made a mistake," he admitted, "but you've got to realise he's doing over 100 mph here, you can't just stop the car and stay off the circuit. He's had a snap, come back, and it doesn't deserve a penalty for me, personally. I don't think. But it's a regulation, and they're decided to take it.

"On a circuit like this, it's so narrow, like a street circuit, these cars are massive," he continued. "You end up over that part of the circuit, you don't chose to be there. Seb doesn't want to crash into Lewis either. It's a toughie, and it's sad to see Lewis on the podium, he obviously wants to win, but not like that. He drove a stonker of a race, and pushed him into a mistake. But he couldn't capitalise his position on the circuit, in the way that I think racing should be. Which is a shame. It's a bit of a sour taste in the mouth actually, after such a great race."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Montreal, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by DRAGON F1, 11/06/2019 23:19

"For @spectrum,
It's obvious that you don't know anything other than slot cars!

Btw It's not a rant, I'm stating Facts!!
Seb made a mistake, didn't back off the gas but cut the corner and continued on the gas, blocking Hamilton in the process needing him to take evasive action! PENALTY WAS CORRECT!

The mistake was Seb's fault and his car getting out of control was his fault!

It is the same as at the start of the French GP last year when Seb locked up and under-steered into Valterri's car! 10 SECOND PENALTY! CORRECT DECISION!"

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 11/06/2019 10:42

"A little more has now been revealed, and it becomes rather clearer that Seb my have been "out of control", but that he also kept his foot in, and jinked to the right after coming back on the track (for whatever reason). In the case of his foot on the accelerator, he had plenty of potential "control", in terms of the steering, only he knows if that was reflex or "racing", but jink he most certainly did. Similarly a man with an F1 driver's reflexes might have considered using the brake too......
I found his moving the place placards less than endearing. Obviously in the heat of the moment he was upset, but he continues to hark on it. He needs to (and I hope he will) put this behind him & concentrate on driving the next races without making errors....."

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3. Posted by spectrum, 10/06/2019 21:52

"For DRAGON F1: Reading your rant, it's obvious you have never raced anything other a slot car."

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4. Posted by DRAGON F1, 10/06/2019 20:54

"When a driver makes a mistake, he should back off!!
Otherwise he and his car will be out of control! And this is totally the driver's fault for keeping his foot on the accelerator and not backing off!
This is Exactly the same situation as when Grosjean kept his foot firmly on the accelerator pedal when his car went off the track, spun around and came back onto the track causing a huge pileup in Spain 2017!! Hahaha"

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5. Posted by DRAGON F1, 10/06/2019 20:39

"Really, really silly, silly comments coming out from Vettel and Ferrari, and their fans!! Lol

On lap 48, Vettel missed the corner and then cut across the grass (taking a shortcut), and he didn't slow down so stayed ahead of Hamilton who did take the chicane normally!

As a minimum, Vettel committed an Offence and gained a permanent advantage over Hamilton by cutting the corner and not slowing down and rejoining the track in an unsafe manner!
At worse,Vettel had hindered Hamilton's progress by coming back straight onto the racing line and blocking Hamilton who would had crashed had he not taken avoiding action by backing off!

By saying that there was nothing else that Vettel could had done, Vettel and Ferrari are purposely avoiding the fact that Vettel actually have a little device in the car which can slows his car down, and it's called a brake!! Lol
All Vettel had to do was to lift off a bit more than he actually did imo!! But obviously Hamilton would had overtaken him if he had done so!!"

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6. Posted by RDFox, 10/06/2019 16:47

"@cricketpo: How in the name of all that is good and sweet in Odin's beard is Vettel supposed to re-enter the track in a safe way if his car is out of control? By definition, if the car is out of control, *the driver cannot control his re-entry to the track*."

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7. Posted by cricketpo, 10/06/2019 13:21

"I can see both sides to this argument. However you cannot deny Vettel did not re enter in a safe way as it looked like he was still out of control. He did gain an advantage in that he maintained his first place even though he lost control whilst under pressure. If events like this are not policed then the track starts to widen. If there were no penalty who is to say that any chicane is now pointless because drivers would just cut across where ever possible. In moto GP I daresay the rider would of ended up on his backside and the argument would never of happened.
Back to Montreal...you could say that morally Lewis did deserve the win as he had not made the error but was prevented from benefiting due to Vettel careering across the track.
I will nail my colours to the mast here and say that I am really enjoying watching Ferrari find new ways of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"

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8. Posted by imejl99, 10/06/2019 7:50

"Move on. Use it as a motivation. Don`t appeal and lament. Accept own mistakes. When you saw Lewis stayed out, you should immediately pit Charles and try to go for 1-2 but they didn`t so... lap 45 and mistake - they should try to slow down after mistake and keep Lewis behind until Leclerc catches and try to overtake for 1-2 and possibly make a 5+ sec gap as there was enough laps to try something... But they chose to keep Leclerc behind 5+ and not involve him, and to appeal?

I would prefer if they tried to do it on the track as a team, instead of appealing. That would be Ferrari we wish for... (fan or not)"

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9. Posted by BADGER, 10/06/2019 6:25

"MORNING ALL
Its a great pity that the race was spoiled by the stewards ,it took the shine off the race by the way i think that F1 should go and look at moto GP bikes when these guys are inches away from each other doeing speeds over 340kph and sometimes even touching each other ,they are true gladiators ,maybe we should get the sterwards to drive the FERRARI and see if they could have brought that car into the left side of the road vettel was a passenger in Rugby you get 50/50 decision not everything is black and white THE BADGER "

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10. Posted by USA1, 10/06/2019 3:02

"If Seb had a second to let Lewis pass him I would have agreed with the stewards but in this case he had no choice whatsoever, first of all he is on the grass for crying out loud second I think that they both very fortunate for not colliding and both finished the race, this was clearly a racing incident and the Stewards where wrong making the decision they did!"

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11. Posted by Dravot, 10/06/2019 2:05

"What an astonishingly laughable result.

When the series most needed a new face on the top step, the stewards, in their infinite stupidity, hand yet another victory to Hamilton & Mercedes.

Yes, Vettel made an error, but he did not gain any advantage from his excursion through the tulips.

In addition, most drivers in those circumstances would have smacked the inside rail, AND they would have collected the guy behind them, in this case, Hamilton.

Vettel got screwed, the punters in the stands got screwed (they mistakenly thought the first guy across the line was the winner), and the sport suffers another black eye for pettiness when it least needs one.

Had I ponied up thousands to attend that race, only to see the result settled by the stewards instead of the drivers, I would have been angrier than Vettel clearly was."

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Ferrari to appeal stewards decision

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