Vettel's penalty in Canada upheld by stewards

Laurent Mekies, sports director of Ferrari, had announced evidence “ very convincing » to exonerate his pilot Sebastian Vettel, penalized five seconds during the last Canadian Grand Prix for joining the track in a dangerous manner in front Lewis Hamilton while the German led the race.

The penalty had deprived Vettel of a first success since Belgium last year and allowed Mercedes to remain undefeated in 2019. The Scuderia had first indicated its intention to appeal before withdrawing. The Maranello house then chose to assert its right of review under article 14 of the FIA ​​International Sporting Code, claiming to have new elements capable of exonerating the four-time world champion.

The hearing took place this Friday at 14:15 p.m. at the Circuit Paul Ricard where the Formula 1 is stopping off this weekend as part of the French Grand Prix. All of the Montreal commissioners were present, either directly in the walls at Castellet or via teleconference.

Invited to the FIA ​​press conference an hour earlier, Mekies, who was going to represent Ferrari during the hearing, made the following remarks: “ The first thing I would like to emphasize is the respect we all have for the work of the commissioners. We know how complicated their task is. We live in a complex universe made up of complex Grands Prix. We support their action 100%.

After the race in Canada, we had access to new evidence. We have studied them carefully and have decided to exercise our right of review with the FIA ​​because we consider that these elements are particularly telling to prove that Sebastian (Vettel) did not break the rules ».

More than two hours after the end of the hearing, the official decision was made: the evidence presented by the Scuderia is not likely to influence the position of the commissioners. “ We did not receive any major items that we did not already have during the round in question », They justified themselves.

The commissioners also detailed the list of exhibits brought by Ferrari to the Var court:

• analysis of telemetry from Sebastian Vettel's car, including trim changes
• a video analysis of the views from the various cameras of Vettel and Hamilton (front, on-board, overhead) mounted after the race.
• a Sky Sports video analysis by consultant Karun Chandhok after the race
• video from Vettel's helmet camera, released after the race by F1 Limited
• post-race images and videos
• the analysis of GPS data from Vettel and Hamilton during the lap of the disputed action and the preceding loops. 
• Vettel's testimony

The stewards specify that certain elements were already available before the end of the race in Montreal. Chandhok's analysis is indeed considered new evidence but it was not deemed admissible because it is the opinion of a third party. The video from Vettel's front camera is also new, but the content of the images is already visible in other shots. 

The commissioners therefore judge that the right of review requested by Ferrari is non-applicable and thus confirm the victory of Lewis Hamilton on Canadian soil.