'Raikkonen punished severely only because it was Hamilton'

Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that Kimi Raikkonen was only given a more severe 10-second penalty instead of the most usual five seconds because it was Lewis Hamilton he hit and it was in Britain, saying that if the incident was with Valtteri Bottas, the penalty would be less.

At the start of the Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, Raikkonen tipped the rear of Hamilton's Mercedes which caused a spin, and a subsequent war of words between the Silver Arrows staff and Ferrari.

The Finn was subsequently given a 10-second fine by the stewards, but Villenuve reckons this is inconsistent.

“I don’t understand why it’s 10 seconds, and another time it’s five, sometimes it’s nothing,” Villeneuve told Motorsport.com.

“That’s what’s wrong. It’s racing. I don’t like it when there are racing penalties, it should be for dirty driving, which is a different thing, or stupid driving.

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“They decided that it’s Lewis, we’re in the UK, he’s fighting for the championship, that’s worth 10 seconds. If it had been Bottas, it would have been five seconds, that’s the thing.”

The Canadian driver has used an incident with Max Verstappen and Raikkonen in Austria as an example of a clash which went uncovered, and has pleaded for more consistency when dishing out fines.

“Sometimes you see things like Verstappen in Austria, when he touched Kimi,” he added.

“Why wasn’t that a penalty? Just because Kimi didn’t go off? If Kimi had gone off, then it would have been a penalty? That’s what’s wrong, it’s the action that matters, not what happens after the action, ultimately."