Sebastian Vettel Canada GP penalty met with fury from Italian media

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel Canada penalty met with fury from Italian media

No surprises here!

Matthew Scott

Monday 10 June 2019 13:35

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Italy's motorsports media was unsurprisingly furious after Sebastian Vettel was denied victory at the Canadian Grand Prix by a highly contentious time penalty. Vettel crossed the line first, but was classified second, behind Lewis Hamilton, due to a manoeuvre while defending against the Mercedes man.

Vettel said the stewards must have been "blind" to have deemed the incident worthy of punishment, as Hamilton had to brake to avoid contact as the German fought to regain control of his car.

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said Ferrari were defiantly considering themselves winners, while the Scuderia have signalled their intention to appeal the decision.

There was little shock to see Italy's media come out on the side of the Maranello squad.

La Stampa lamented the race ended "with a driver (Hamilton) who embarrassedly celebrates victory on the podium, another (Ferrari's German) holding back to hardly contain the anger and the audience whistling loudly."

Corriere dello Sport declared the incident: "An unjust decision, and also a suicide for F1."

Correspondent Giorgio Terruzzi added: "The manoeuvre, in its dynamics, will be discussed at length. But that is not even the point.

"F1 has become a monotonous championship, dominated by technique and tires, and often boring.

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"We had the first real pure and magnificent battle on the track, with a rediscovered Ferrari and therefore with a prompt injection of universal enthusiasm around the races.

"These are things that Bernie Ecclestone always kept in full view; and are considerations that a champion and a balanced person like Emanuele Pirro, one of the commissioners of the race direction, could have taken into consideration instead of applying a questionable penalty combined with a sensational myopia."

La Gazzetta dello Sport said the race was "another wasted occasion".

The pink sport daily added: "So much controversy, so much anger, Seb also went to remove the number 1 sign in front of Hamilton's car..."