Vettel / Raïkkönen incident: Who is to blame?

Fighting for 11th place, the two former Ferrari drivers collided on the last lap of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Published on 05/07/2021 à 10:41

Quentin DUBOIS

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Vettel / Raïkkönen incident: Who is to blame?

An incident that could have ended badly. / © Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

While the focus of the production was on the struggle between Valtteri Bottas et Lando Norris, a big incident occurred at the rear. While fighting for 11th position with George Russell, Kimi Raïkkönen hung on with Sebastian Vettel. The two drivers finished in the grass, without hitting the rail. But whose fault is it? Is it just a matter of racing?

On the 70th lap of the race, the yellow flag was displayed in the second sector. Although we did not experience the incident live, we had access to the replay images. Was there a clear error on the part of one of the two pilots or was it a misunderstanding?

If we look closely at the two on-board cameras, we see that the two drivers are making a slight turn of the wheel to the left, which is not necessary at this point of the circuit.
Too great a risk if we look at the ranking at the time of the accident and the stakes of this last lap for the two drivers. Fortunately, no driver hit the rail or returned to the track in an uncontrolled manner like what we saw in F3 in the morning.

What do pilots say about this?

Between Kimi Raïkkönen and Sebastian Vettel, no problem. The pilot Alfa Romeo admits he will watch the incident again to find out more. “I don’t really know what happened. Was it me who moved or where the location shifted slightly? I'll have to watch the replay of the incident. Afterwards, it doesn’t change our result, we were out of points anyway.”

His ex-teammate Vettel is banking on a racing incident. “It was a misunderstanding between us, there was no bad intention on either side. For my part, it’s a fact of racing, these things happen.”

The commissioners, for their part, have decided. The Finnish driver received a 20-second penalty on his race time, which does not change his result. He also loses 2 points on his license. He now has 6 out of 12 left. Are you of the opinion of the drivers or the marshals?
 

 

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