JULY 26, 2012

Vettel claims he was misquoted over Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel has denied saying that Lewis Hamilton made a 'stupid decision' when he attempted to unlap himself from race leaders Fernando Alonso and himself in last weekend's German GP.

Sebastian Vettel has denied saying that Lewis Hamilton made a 'stupid decision' when he attempted to unlap himself from race leaders Fernando Alonso and himself in last weekend's German GP.

Speaking in Budapest, Vettel said to the media: "I didn't say it was a stupid decision. If I say after the race that I think it was unnecessary and then it gets put and quoted that I said he is stupid, it is quite disappointing. Sometimes I have a mouth, I say a couple of words, you have ears but it seems that somewhere in that process mistakes do happen.

"If you look at the rules I think it is clear that you are allowed to do that. I said it was unneceesary. I was hunting Fernando with a couple of laps to the stops. That's racing. I'm not complaining, I've said it was unnecesssary from a racing point of view to distract the leaders, no matter who it was, and that's it."

What Vettel actually said, was this: "That was not nice of him. I don't see the point why he's trying to race us. If he wants to go fast he can drop back, find a gap and go fast there. But it's a bit stupid to disturb the leaders."

From there, it seems quite legitimate for the media to say that Vettel thought Hamilton's decision was a bit stupid, even if it is applying spin to say that Vettel labelled Hamilton himself, stupid.

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