The Ferrari star saw victory snatched away from him at the Canadian Grand Prix yesterday after he was given a time penalty for an incident with Lewis Hamilton.
During the 48th lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel lost his rear end whilst running wide on the fourth corner.
As he attempted to keep a hold of the lead ahead of Hamilton – who was one second behind him – the German took the racing line and pushed the Brit wide towards the wall.
He received a five second time penalty, thus promoting championship leader Hamilton top the top of the podium.
Vettel was visibly upset after the race, and initially skipped the post-race press conference in order to go up to the stewards’ office to complain.
After he returned, he was asked to compare the situation with that of Spa in 2008, when Hamilton received a time penalty for cutting the chicane on the last lap.
On that occasion, Hamilton won the race but was demoted through a time penalty, just like Vettel yesterday.
But the Ferrari maestro refused to get too downhearted, choosing instead to suggest that he believes racing was better in “the old times”.
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know what’s the procedure now,” Vettel sighed.
“I was just thinking that I really love my racing. 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.
“I think it’s not just about that decision today, 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.’”
Hamilton admitted that the win “was not a good feeling,” but Vettel insisted that the pair have a good relationship and strong respect.
“I think Lewis… obviously as I said, I rejoined the track and then Lewis obviously had to react. I don’t know how close it was or close he was,” he continued. “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 and 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.”