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Vettel: This is not the sport I fell in love with

NEWS STORY
10/06/2019

Just days after rubbishing claims that he is to retire at season end, a clearly disappointed Sebastian Vettel admitted unhappiness with the current state of the sport, revealing a frustration the clearly goes beyond it.

Admitting that he more or less had to be forced to attend the official post-race press conference, far less the podium ceremony, the German was a million miles away from the man we had witnessed just twenty-four hours earlier celebrating his hard-won pole position.

"I was just thinking that I really love my racing," he said. "I'm a purist, I love going back and looking at the old times, the old cars, the old drivers. It's an honour when you have the chance to meet them and talk to them; they're heroes in a way.

"So I really love that but I just wish I was maybe as good, doing what I do, but being in their time rather than today," he added.

"It's not just about that decision today," he admitted, "there's other decisions... Just hear the wording when people come on the radio, that we have now. We have an official language, I think it's all wrong. I think we should be able to say what we think but we're not, so in this regard I disagree with where the sport is now.

"You have all this wording 'I gained an advantage, I didn't gain an advantage, I avoided a collision'. I just think it's wrong, you know, it's not really what we're doing in the car. It's racing, it's common sense. If there's a hazard on track, obviously you slow down because it's quite unnatural to keep the pedal to the floor and run into the car and then say, 'ah, it's wrong that the car was there'.

"I rejoined the track and then Lewis obviously had to react," he continued. "I don't know how close it was or close he was. Once I looked in the mirror he was sort of there but for me that's racing and I think a lot of the people that I just mentioned earlier, the old Formula One drivers and people in the grandstands and so on, would agree that this is just part of racing... but nowadays, it's just... I don't like it.

"We all sound a bit like lawyers, using the official language. I think it just gives no edge to people and no edge to the sport.

"Ultimately it's not the sport that I fell in love with when I was watching. Obviously it hurts me today because it impacts on my race result but I think this more of a bigger criteria.

"Tomorrow, when I wake up, I won't be disappointed. I think Lewis and myself we share great respect and I think we've achieved so much in the sport, I think we're both very, very blessed to be in that position so one win up, one win down, I don't think it's a game-changer if you've been around for such a long time, but as I said, I'm not happy about all this complaining and stuff that we see so many times."

Asked if such decisions made him question his future in the sport, he replied: "I don't know...

"I'm not ready for this kind of question..." he continued. "I don't know, I just feel that nowadays we look at so many things that maybe we didn't look at in the past because nobody was really making a fuss. Now, obviously it's worth making a fuss for everything because you have these decisions.

"I sympathise in a way with the stewards," he admitted. "I've said many times when I've been in there that they are sitting in front of a piece of paper and they're watching the race and they also came back to me and say we agree but look, we have to do these kind of things so I think just the way we are doing these things now is just wrong.

"But it's our times, we have regulations for everything. We need to have this jacket when... I don't know, it's clear there's a hole when walking down a pedestrian walk and there is a hole in the street because they're doing construction work and there needs to be a be guy who guides you to the other side of the road, otherwise it's the construction company's fault that you fell into the hole and broke a leg, but I think you're just an idiot if you walk into that hole and break you leg but that's a little bit how my theory is nowadays. The approaches are drifting apart."

Asked about the moments after her parked his car, he said: "I parked the car in parc ferme, a different parc ferme, the one that is not for the top three and then went to get weighed and then at that point didn't really want to join anything that was obviously happening after that.

"I wasn't very heated up, obviously angry and disappointed but I think everybody understands why, but I think it's a matter of respect to show to Lewis and Charles and also the representative for Mercedes on the podium, to be part of the podium.

"Certainly it wasn't the place where I wanted to be," he admitted, "because at that point you just want to get out but yeah, also sitting here is not of my free will but I have to be here."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Montreal, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by F1 fan, 11/06/2019 16:30

"Scuderia, not Scudded. Damn autocorrect"

Rating: Neutral (0)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by F1 fan, 11/06/2019 16:26

"I am indifferent about the penalty but you must admit that since Sebastian left Red Bull to join Ferrari, he has become quite the whiny little b**ch. In my opinion, he made a drastic mistake by leaving just to join the Scudded. Wake up Seb, things are not always as rosy as you think they will be. You had 4 Championships with Red Bull and now seem to be lost."

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3. Posted by Pavlo, 11/06/2019 11:07

"I think everyone remembers Max not getting any penalty for cutting a corner or 5 seconds for crashing while defending and crashing in the pits. Here Seb was a second in front and just lost it without a contact - so in comparison the penalty is clearly wrong..
From another angle, had Seb slowed down (assuming he was able to), he would have finished second. He didn’t, so he had a good chance to be first and still got second. So even if you think Seb broke the rules, the penalty is totally wrong."

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4. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 11/06/2019 8:50

"Rules should only be applied when it is clearly black or white, the rear wings to big, the car is over weight, if there is clearly different interpretations as in this case, then no stewards interference."

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5. Posted by Tardis40, 11/06/2019 2:39

"Vettel is correct. F1 has become a joke."

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6. Posted by DRAGON F1, 10/06/2019 20:23

"Seb, you made a mistake! You should have backed off!
But you didn't back off, you cut the corner and gained an advantage!
You kept your foot on the throttle and would had crashed into Lewis had he not taken evasive action by backing off!
Seb, Ferrari, and your fans, are Wrong!! "

Rating: Negative (-1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Rock Doc, 10/06/2019 20:13

"So we have now had 3 races in a row where the faster driver cannot overtake the slower car in front.

In what other racing series is this a constant theme?"

Rating: Positive (2)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by Rock Doc, 10/06/2019 20:11

"I watched a good battle between two great drivers on their limit yesterday. Hamilton made numerous mistakes at the hair-pin locking up and losing ground on Vettel. But then he had the greater speed and was able to quickly catch up.

Vettel made a mistake closing on on the back markers. He was very lucky not to hit the wall as that is the usual result on that corner. Seen it so many times in the past with other drviers. He was lucky not to collect up Hamilton and take them both out. Other than that he had a faultless weekend.

But then the penalty. I understand the reasons for giving it but it wasn't the correct decision. You just had to listen the fans at the course to understand that. It really took the sport out of F1 yesterday. What should have been a celebration of two great drivers on their limits turned into a sickening hopeless feeling of what the hell.

Hamilton may have won the race but it wasn't a victory and will be remembers for all the wrong reasons."

Rating: Positive (1)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by GrahamG, 10/06/2019 18:48

"No, it's a sport which has decided it needs Lewis Hamilton more than it needs Sebastian Vettel and it will do anything and everything to make that clear.
Why not just hand the championship to him now then the rest of the field could get on with racing. "

Rating: Negative (-4)     Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by roamy, 10/06/2019 17:45

"This is horrible and the sport will suffer for it!! "

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11. Posted by ZJAY, 10/06/2019 17:35

"The PC word is "funny"; the non PC word is hyphenated.
Same situation just 3 years ago NO PENALTY: Hamilton - Ricciardo Monaco 2016 in this case Hamilton cuts the chicane. "

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12. Posted by Greg, 10/06/2019 16:03

"As Seb said in the old days it was mostly just part of the race, you went off and tried you best to come back in cleanly. Sometimes you can't but you don't really deserve a penalty for it. Too much PC these days "

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13. Posted by Mr Mills, 10/06/2019 12:47

"Vettel broke the rule by driving back on to the track u safe and forcing Lewis to slam on his brakes. So the canda stewards were correct but it should be a 25 second "

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14. Posted by Malemoi, 10/06/2019 11:27

"I am a Lewis fan but Seb went up 10fold in my estimation yesterday. His comments are spot on about the state of F1 today. Killed by the bureaucrats years back and they continue to make the sport go backwards
"

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