Vettel wants to calm things down with a reluctant Hamilton

A few days after their clash under the safety car regime on the 20th lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the tension between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel is still palpable.

Accused of deliberately hitting his rival and having been penalized with a 10-second Stop & Go, the Ferrari driver wants to calm things down and talk to his rival to smooth things over: I have no problem with him. I have a lot of respect for the driver he is. I don’t think it was intentional because he was also risking damaging his car and ending his race. Now, it’s not yet the right time to talk. I will do it alone with him, to clarify all that and move on. stated Vettel.

An invitation to a discussion that doesn’t seem to please Hamilton, still very unhappy with the German’s on-track attitude: « Firstly, he doesn’t have my phone number. I just need to express myself on the track, that’s the most important thing for me. I heard what he said after the race. It happened and I don’t think it’s a good thing. But the most important thing for me is that I lost the race because of a headrest issue. All I think about it is “keep a cool head.” I want to do everything to win the next 12 races. I need to reflect a bit on this, but I still think it was disrespectful. It’s not the right way to drive and it shouldn’t be a response to any issue you have on track. We are world champions, we are the best drivers in the world, we’ve been racing for years and we don’t have to do that! »

But on the other hand, this situation demonstrates for Hamilton that Vettel and Ferrari are feeling a lot of pressure: « We are putting pressure on Ferrari. He is under pressure and that is not a bad thing. »

That said, Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ sporting director, would like to speak with Vettel to get his version of events: « You know that emotions are heightened in a racing car. As we have seen in the past, when you have the visor down, you have your own perception of events, so I guess the only explanation I have, and I’m not going to protect Sebastian here, is that Sebastian thought Lewis had braked to test him, which wasn’t the case. We saw it in the data; the safety car was 150 meters ahead. So it was a misjudgment. »

Wolff also believes that Vettel’s wheel move after the incident was indeed deliberate: “I can hardly imagine that he did it by accident. So, I would like to speak to him personally and hear what he says about the incident rather than judge without having clearly heard his statement. If a driver does this out of anger, then we need to consider the importance of the penalty. Of course, he is a four-time world champion, and in Formula 1, we are role models for all young drivers regarding what is allowed and what is not. It’s difficult for me to understand,” concludes Wolff.