17/04/2016
NEWS STORY
Having vented his anger and frustration to his team during and after the race, it was inevitable that when he finally got to meet up with Daniil Kvyat, Sebastian Vettel would give the Russian a peace of his mind.
Sure enough when the pair met up in the ante-room before the podium ceremony there were words.
As Nico Rosberg towelled himself down and kissed the TV camera, savouring an easy win and another step towards the title, Vettel, having congratulated his countryman in German, looked up at the monitor.
However, when Kvyat asked what happened at the start, the German turned to him and said: "You, asking what happened at the start. You go to the left, you crash into all three of us."
"I was going for the gap," replied Kvyat, grinning... a move that will always antagonise your accuser.
"You were like a torpedo," declared Vettel.
"Well, that racing," replied Kvyat, causing Rosberg to grin.
"If I keep going the same line, we crash," insists Vettel.
"Well don't keep going," says Kvyat, still grinning.
"There was a car on the left also," says Vettel.
"I hit all the three cars, c'mon," laughs the Russian, as Rosberg, still grinning, takes a swig of water.
"You need to expect when you attack like a crazy that you damage your car," says Vettel. "You were lucky this time. I had damage and Kimi had damage."
"Yeh," grins Kvyat, "I'm on the podium, you're on the podium."
The trio then headed out on to the podium, and subsequently to the official press conference, where Vettel continued to air his anger and frustration, whilst Kvyat continued to brush the claims aside.
However, Vettel's accusations never sounded that convincing, and repeated viewing of the incident suggests that it was the German himself who was the culprit, his Russian rival having simply done what racers do, taking advantage of a gap... a gap that existed doe to a (self-confessed) bad start from Vettel.
Indeed, despite Vettel's repeated claims, team boss Maurizio Arrivabene clearly had his own view on the incident.
"Pointing the finger at somebody is not correct," he told reporters. "I think that Seb or Kimi, they would do the same in Kvyat's position. This is racing, it's not monopoly."