26/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Three-time world champion, and Mercedes' non-executive chairman, Niki Lauda, has admitted that he is baffled by the incident that saw Sebastian Vettel barge into rival Lewis Hamilton's car at the second re-start, costing the German a 10s stop and go penalty and a possible win.
"Vettel is a decent guy normally," the Austrian told reporters. "But this, I don't understand, he's crazy."
Asked if the move has damaged the German's reputation, Lauda was under no illusion. "Sure," he replied, "he freaked out".
"Nobody can criticise the stewards because they are what they are, like a referee," he continued, referring to Hamilton's criticism of Charlie Whiting and the stewards for not coming down harder on Vettel, "but they could have done more, because I think it's the worst you can do. If you overtake somebody and drive into him as a mistake, fine, but this was deliberate, in a phase of the race where you are driving slow."
Other than the side-swipe at Hamilton, Lauda insists that Vettel was also responsible for running into the back of the Mercedes in the first place, a fact borne out by the data.
"You have to be so under control yourself that you don't do that," he said. "He was upset he hit him up the back, but this was also his fault, not Lewis' fault.
"Therefore what he did after I don't understand," he admitted. "He could have damaged his car, Lewis' car and could have been taken out of race, so I don't know why he is risking all of that."
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