Vergne penalized, Vettel’s pole threatened?

After securing his thirty-fourth career pole position, which allows him to climb alone to the third step of the podium for drivers with the most pole positions in Formula One, Sebastian Vettel was placed under investigation by the stewards at Suzuka.

Indeed, the German reportedly hindered Fernando Alonso approaching the chicane in the final moments of the third phase of qualifying, crucial for securing pole position. Consequently, the Red Bull driver was summoned by the panel of stewards to explain himself, just like the Spaniard who clocked the seventh-fastest time in a session marked by the yellow flag displayed following Kimi Räikkönen’s off-track excursion.

If the native of Heppenheim were to be found guilty of obstructing the native of Oviedo, he could potentially face a penalty of up to five grid positions, which would grant pole position to Mark Webber and place him on the third row, alongside Fernando Alonso. However, this season, the FIA has sometimes shown leniency in such situations, particularly considering the actual impact of the obstruction. In this case, the penalty might be only three grid positions or simply result in a warning from the stewards.

For similar incidents, Jean-Eric Vergne was penalized with a 3-place grid drop for obstructing Bruno Senna in Q1, leading to the latter’s elimination: « I was catching Glock on my hot lap and had to slow down because of it,” explained the Frenchman. « I saw Bruno coming very fast and, unfortunately, he caught up with me at the chicane where there’s not much room. I knew I had to let him pass, and I moved as much as possible to the outside, even if I knew I wouldn’t be in the best position to exit the turn. After that, he significantly slowed down, and I had to pass him again on the straight, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to set a proper time. »

It is worth noting, however, that the qualifying session was significantly impacted by traffic issues, with Michael Schumacher stating after the session that he could have made it to Q3 if he had not lost two-tenths behind Lewis Hamilton.

Update: The stewards have issued a simple reprimand to Sebastian Vettel after he was summoned for blocking Fernando Alonso in Q3. The German will still start from pole position tomorrow.

It should be noted that Kamui Kobayashi was placed under investigation for improving his time under yellow flag conditions, but the stewards decided not to sanction the Japanese driver as he demonstrated that he had lost time and had not used his KERS or DRS. The Sauber driver will therefore start in third position for his home Grand Prix.