Niki Lauda and Lewis Hamilton were both critical of the five-second time penalty issued to Sebastian Vettel for colliding with Valtteri Bottas in the first corner of the French Grand Prix.
Boxed in by the two Mercedes drivers starting on the front row, Vettel left his braking too late into the first corner, hitting the left-rear of Bottas. Spinning the Mercedes around and giving the Finn a puncture in the process, Vettel continued with a broken front wing.
After both the cars pitted at the end of the opening lap while the safety car had neutralised the race after other accidents, Vettel was given a five-second time penalty from the stewards for causing the accident.
Both Hamilton and Mercedes’ non-executive boss Lauda were critical of the penalty handed to Vettel. When speaking to Sky, Lauda questioned “why Vettel only gets 5 seconds for this enormous mistake, I don’t really understand. It’s too little. He really destroyed the whole race for himself and for Bottas.
“There is more time they can give them. That is what I mean. Five seconds is nothing. He destroyed the whole race for himself and Bottas.”
While talking after the race, Hamilton had a similar opinion after looking at a reply of the accident on a TV screen, “Jeez, he took him right out. Oh, man, that’s crazy.”
“It’s just a tap on the hand. It allowed him to finish ahead of Valtteri in the end.”
Vettel finished in fifth, while Bottas struggled with damage to the floor of his car to end up seventh.
