Vettel close to one-race ban
- Published on 09 Sep 2019 13:00
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- By: Harry Mattocks
Sebastian Vettel is close to receiving a one-race ban, as the German driver finds himself with nine penalty points on his super licence.
This means that if he earns another three points in the coming races (Singapore, Russia or Japan), then it will bring his total up to twelve and he'll be given a ban. The last time a driver was banned from participating in a race was Romain Grosjean, due to the Frenchman being to blame for the crash at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix in 2012.
Vettel was given his most recent three points for the incident in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, where he rejoined the track in an unsafe manner and collided with Lance Stroll.
“I still love what I do but when you are not doing well, and you know you can do well, you can’t be happy,” said Vettel. I lost the rear of the car and it was as simple as that.”
There is a growing feeling in the paddock that the four-time world champion is becoming the second driver at Ferrari, thanks to the emergence of Charles Leclerc. Vettel has not won a race in more than one year, whereas his teammate has won the last two.
Lance Stroll said that the German was driving 'like an idiot', and there will certainly be questions asked over Vettel's place at Ferrari if this form continues.
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Replies (7)
Login to replyabhidbgt
Posts: 283
It seems his driving needs a more rear end stability. This has been one of many such incidents. Either this or he likes set up with a bit less rear end stability.
I don't think he would end up with a race ban but for that he needs to be extra cautious in Singapore.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It would be crazy if Seb ends up being the first driver to get a race ban under the new system. Not that it would be undeserved, but rather that I expected at least three other drivers to be closer to a race ban than Seb
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Indeed, but those drivers were clever in that they distributed their disastrous driving a bit more evenly. So I think that over more years, Vettel would kinda be middlish in terms of PP. I always suspected Grosjean would be a more potent candidate for that ban.
siggy74
Posts: 194
3 More points and a 1 grand Prix ban before the end of the season ;p
Could be worse, taking out his team mate ;p
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
AJPP, how many of them just pulled out into traffic like that? Crashing when you have milliseconds to react is one thing, but pulling into oncoming traffic?
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
He should be. I was looking at the replay again and looks like he looked right at Stroll and pulled in front of him. Lance was quite the gentleman about it but what a bonehead move. I think when the same thing basically happened to him he softened his attitude toward Vettel but I bet in watching the replay he might think he deserved that harsh of a penalty. I think if they could have given him a ban for it they would have, but that was the harshest they could give given his number of points.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
With emphasis on "looked like". They more or less only have straight forward vision in those cars and with those helmets on. Man I'd love them to have a camera in the helmet so we'd get Vet's FoV from this incident..