FIA President Jean Todt has finally explained the reasoning behind his decision to let Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel off with any further action after his incident with Lewis Hamilton in the recent Baku GP.
Sebastian admitted to being angry when he drove alongside the Mercedes under safety car conditions and turned into him, the two cars banging wheels before Vettel pulled back in behind the Mercedes ,something he received a ten second stop and go penalty for.
However, after the race the controversy raged and the FIA felt tht they needed to intervene. So on Monday of last week, both Hamilton and Vettel were invite to attend a meeting with the FIA to explain the situation. Hamilton opted not to attend, but Vettel went and apologized for his actions, admitting that he had done the wrong thing and offering to do community work for his actions.
Since then the FIA has come under some intense scrutiny for not giving the Ferrari driver any further sanctions, however Todt has explained that if it ever happens again, the penalty will be severe.
"It is up to the president of the FIA to decide whether he should be asked to go in front of the International Tribunal," Todt told Sky Sports."After Mexico, which was a completely different offence, and I mean clearly we see that Sebastian, who is a great driver, sometimes is not able to control himself as much as he should. And I used to run drivers, and they are in a very tense situation."
"I think you must try also to interpret the situation well. This doesn't mean that you give them the right to do anything, but you must try and understand it. It's so easy to make decisions behind a desk, or to judge behind a desk. You must accept in life that human beings may have some emotions"
"This thing was a completely different matter, but clearly, Sebastian has had some very strong warnings. And clearly, it won't happen again. If it would, then the consequences would be very severe."
