Sebastian Vettel was involved in yet another first corner incident at the United States Grand Prix. Fortunately for him, he was able to continue the race without any serious consequences, although it ruined Nico Hülkenberg’s race. Vettel has been involved in multiple similar first corner accidents this season, showing that he is absolutely oblivious to the other drivers in the first corner.
This specific incident involved Nico Hülkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel. Despite starting on the inside of the grid, Vettel had made his way to the outside line as he approached on the first corner. When he arrived at the corner, he motioned toward the apex, leaving barely a car width of space between his car and the inside kerb. Naturally, when Bottas and Hülkenberg arrived at the corner on the inside of Vettel, both of the drivers couldn’t squeeze into the tiny space that Vettel had left. This meant that Hülkenberg would hit Vettel, as result also hitting Bottas’ right rear tyre. In this situation, it is pretty clear that Vettel did not leave adequate space for both drivers, who were alongside of him for as they entered the corner.
Bottas suffered a puncture and was forced to pit for new tyres, leaving him to finish in P16. Hülkenberg, the unfortunate man in the middle, was left in a worse situation. He retired from the race. A frustrated Hülkenberg also suggested that Vettel should have left more space and that there wouldn’t have been that accident had he done that:
“It’s really disappointing to have another first lap retirement. I just ran out of space going into turn one because I got sandwiched between Valtteri [Bottas] on my left and Sebastian [Vettel] on the right. Sebastian turned in quite aggressively, made contact with me, and that pushed me into Valtteri. I think it could have been avoided if Sebastian had given us a bit more space, but it all happened so quickly and I had nowhere to go. It’s really frustrating when you have a quick car and your race only lasts ten seconds. We had done all the hard work on Friday and Saturday, but all that effort counted for nothing.”
This isn’t the first time that this situation has happened, as we also witnessed a similar incident in Belgium. This particular collision involved Kimi Räikkönen, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. Vettel was on the outside of the corner, while Verstappen decided to attempt an overtaking maneuver on the inside of Räikkönen. As Vettel made the move to the apex, once again leaving barely even enough space for his teammate to make the corner, he collided with Räikkönen. He blamed Verstappen for the incident, saying that it was an invalid overtaking attempt.
These incidents show that Vettel just isn’t aware of or doesn’t care about what the other drivers are doing in the first corner. He simply attempts to take a near-racing line on the apex, regardless of whether it will impact the other drivers who are alongside of him.
The worst part of the incident in the United States is that the stewards didn’t issue any form of penalty for the collision, even though it destroyed the race for two drivers and the stewards had already warned that they will be cracking down on dangerous maneuvers. Should pinching drivers in the first corner not be considered a dangerous maneuver? Should you not be penalized for ending a race for two drivers in two seconds?
Weekend Summary: 2016 United States Grand Prix
Stewards Prohibit Moving Under Braking
Weekend Summary: 2016 Belgian Grand Prix
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