Ferrari appeal after Vettel penalty hands Hamilton Canada GP win

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Ferrari have appealed against the five-second penalty that cost Sebastian Vettel his first victory of the season in the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

In a move that requires the Italian team to formally support their decision with new evidence within 96 hours, Ferrari kept alive the controversy that followed the stewards' mid-race penalty and resulted in a petulant demonstration of the German driver's fury after the race.

Vettel was punished for making an unsafe re-entry to the action after 48 laps after running off the track and across a strip of grass, his move squeezing Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes towards a wall and blocking him from trying to take the lead.

Vettel went on to win the race on the track, but after his time penalty was applied he dropped to second and Hamilton claimed a record-equaling seventh victory in Canada.

In his protest, Vettel launched a tirade against the race stewards, stormed away from the immediate post-race interviews, moved a number two sign from his car to Hamilton's vehicle and declared the race had been stolen from him and Ferrari.

His team chief Mattia Binotto remained calm, but defiant, saying "we won the race."

"We won today. I think honestly we have been the fastest on the track today and that's important," he added.

Ferrari later notified the sport's ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) of their intentions and now has until Thursday to supply fresh evidence.

Ferrari's team chief Mattia Binotto (L) comforts Sebastian Vettel (C) after the Canada GP race in Montreal, June 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

Support for Ferrari

Ferrari found considerable support from former champions who felt the regulations were at fault and that the stewards had come to the wrong decision.

Former Ferrari driver and 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell, who has also served as a steward, said on Twitter that the penalty was ridiculous.

"Very, very embarrassing. No joy in watching this race, two champions driving brilliantly, will end in a false result," he said.

Jenson Button, the 2009 champion commentating for Sky Sports, felt it was a sad outcome.

"It's always disappointing when there's a proper fight out on track between two greats, two multiple world champions, and then the stewards are able to come in and take that away from us really," he said.

"It's a shame. For me, it's a racing incident... it doesn't deserve a penalty."

American Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, also joined the criticism on Twitter, saying: "I think the function of the stewards is to penalize flagrantly unsafe moves not honest mistakes as a result of hard racing. What happened at #CanadaGP is not acceptable at this level of our great sport."

Ferrari's German driver Sebastian Vettel (L) and Mercedes' British racer Lewis Hamilton stand together on the podium of Canada GP in Montreal, June 9, 2019. /VCG Photo

Support for the penalty

However, former Renault driver Jolyon Palmer, who is now part of the BBC's F1 team, wrote in his column that Vettel deserved his penalty.

"Vettel's natural momentum took him across the full width of the circuit."

"But in that case, he is guilty of rejoining the circuit in an unsafe manner, as he was not in full control of his car, to the extent that he ran Hamilton off the road in an unsafe manner.

Palmer even provided two scenarios. "If he was forced to run all the way into Hamilton, that's not safe. If he wasn't, then he deliberately did it, and that's not fair and deserves a penalty."

"He had a huge snap of oversteer on corner entry, causing him to go off onto the grass."

Palmer stated Vettel's incident was almost "a copy of Max Verstappen's with Kimi Raikkonen at the final chicane in Japan last year".

"In Japan, Verstappen locked up under pressure from the Finn, cut the corner, and in rejoining he forced Raikkonen off and kept the place. As a result, the Red Bull driver got a five-second penalty and few complained about it afterwards." And Ferrari agreed with the penalty at the time.

Penalties should be handed out in a consistent manner, Palmer insisted.

"People should also bear in mind that the stewards have a lot more data to use in terms of speeds, camera angles, and throttle/brake traces than everybody else," Palmer noted.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)