Vettel penalty down to 'two centimetres' of track - Button

Former world champion Jenson Button believes that two centimetres might have stood between Sebastian Vettel avoiding the penalty which cost him victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel took a five-second time penalty for an unsafe manoeuvre in the path of Lewis Hamilton, who inherited the race win as a result.

Vettel went wide at Turn 4 from the lead and swerved back onto the track, forcing Hamilton to jab on the brakes.

It was deemed worthy of a penalty, although Vettel was furious afterwards, saying the stewards must have been "blind" and placing the second-place bollard in front of Hamilton's car.

Button agreed with the German that the penalty was unjustified, highlighting how marginal differences might have seen him avoid sanction.

"It's disappointing when there's a proper fight out on track between two greats, two multiple world champions, and then the stewards are able to come in and take that away from us," Button said on Sky Sports

"It's a shame. For me, it's a racing incident. Yes, Seb made a mistake - but you've got to realise he's doing over 100mph here. You can't just stop the car and stay off the circuit.

"It doesn't deserve a penalty, I don't think. From a racer's point of view - he had nowhere to go.

"You don't choose to be on that part of the circuit and Seb doesn't want to crash into Lewis either.

"He's not in control coming back onto the circuit and it's not his fault that he couldn't slow down.

"There's probably two centimetres [in it], if he had been two centimetres further away he probably wouldn't have got a penalty."

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