Vettel thought he had slowed down enough under red flag

The pilot Ferrari, who is fighting this weekend in Texas to maintain a slim title hope against Lewis Hamilton, will have to move back three places on the starting grid for the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

The reason ? Hag did not slow down enough in sectors 6 and 7 of the Circuit of the Americas while Free Practice 1 was temporarily neutralized to remove gravel brought onto the track by the Sauber Charles Leclerc.

« I saw the red flag, I braked, I looked around me to see if anyone had had an accident at Turns 9 and 10, said Vettel after Friday's practice. I slowed down significantly to follow the rules. The marshals felt that I had taken too long to react, 27,7 seconds in total. I was aware that there was a neutralization in progress. I don't really see what more I can tell you. ».

Asked whether the race management should have shown leniency knowing that the world crown was at stake, the Scuderia leader added: “ I think common sense should prevail whatever the case. I don't think it's fair to determine to the second whether a driver has slowed down enough.

This is the first time we have had this situation in the rain and the time to be respected is much slower than in the dry. Basically, I should have been driving at 30-40 km/h. Next time I will do it but in my opinion it is not wise in terms of safety if you have someone behind you. But obviously, it's more important to avoid the penalty ».

5th, almost two seconds behind his rival Hamilton in EL1, then 10th, more than seconds behind the driver Mercedes In FP2, Vettel also admitted that the Ferraris were simply not fast enough in the rain to compete with the Silver Arrows. 

Unfortunately for the four-time champion, his SF71H proved too fast at the wrong time.