JUNE 28, 2017
Todt may summon Vettel to FIA court
Jean Todt could be set to order a further investigation into Sebastian Vettel's behaviour in Azerbaijan.
Jean Todt could be set to order a further investigation into Sebastian Vettel's behaviour in Azerbaijan.
The German left Baku refusing to talk about the moment he apparently drove his Ferrari deliberately into title rival Lewis Hamilton, having accused the Mercedes driver of 'brake testing' him.
"It is possible Vettel will be summoned by the FIA's international sports tribunal," Auto Motor und Sport editor Michael Schmidt said.
"There could be the prospect of a race ban."
The FIA president's intervention could be because Vettel is in trouble just eight months after his foul-mouthed tirade against F1 race direction Charlie Whiting in Mexico last year.
Former F1 driver Christian Klien told Austrian broadcaster Servus TV: "Sure, Hamilton's action was a provocation but Vettel really lost his nerve in an unsporting way.
"Then the penalty was too mild for what I think was unsporting behaviour," he added.
Ex Renault chief Flavio Briatore agrees: "What Vettel did was strange -- actually incomprehensible.
"It is true that Hamilton slowed but I don't know what came over Vettel to steer his car into Hamilton's," he told Italian radio Rai.
Another possibility is that the FIA court will find that Vettel accidentally drove into Hamilton as he gesticulated his anger at the Briton.
"It seemed to me that his steering wheel was moved unintentionally," former F1 driver and occasional steward Mika Salo told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.
"But it's also true that Vettel often overreacts," he added.
And current Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg told Sport1: "I can understand both the punishment and Vettel's response.
"If you know him, you know how emotional he sometimes is during a race. It looked funny what Lewis did, but Sebastian did not have to react in that way.
"But as a racing driver, emotions sometimes boil up and things like this happen in the heat of a fight," Hulkenberg added.
(GMM)