Vettel and Hamilton collide while behind safety car in chaotic Azerbaijan GP
The race was red flagged as cars clashed up and down the field leaving debris all over the track
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix descended into chaos in the first half of the race as the safety car was called out three times in eight laps.
The first period was to allow marshals to recover the broken down Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, and the safety car was brought out again just a lap later so they could clear debris from the track.
As the leader Lewis Hamilton was following the safety car and complained often that it was not going fast enough for the F1 cars to be able to keep temperature in their tyres.
Then on the second safety car period Sebastian Vettel - running second - ran into the back of Hamilton, damaging the Ferrari front wing, then pulled alongside him to remonstrate and incredibly, appeared to drive into the Mercedes in a fit of pique.
Just moments later the safety car came in and the race got underway again - and chaos immediately followed.
As the cars scrambled to make up places the two Force Indias clashed with the result that Sergio Perez - who had been running a fantastic third place - had to pit for extensive repairs.
With more debris on the track the safety car was sent out for a THIRD time before race director Charlie Whiting red flagged the race to allow the track to be cleared.
Later in the race the stewards handed Vettel a 10 second stop/go penalty for the incident.
So far this championship has been run in a very friendly way, but this could be the moment the race for the 2017 title turns nasty...
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Comments (77)
Let's not forget that after this, Hamilton asked his team to instruct Bottas to block Vettel......... Both pricks
Bullshit headline. Hamilton brake checked Vettel. Once again The Ham does underhanded crap and gets away with it. How much does Mercedes pay these stewards.
Are you crazy Leader controls the pace regardless. It's debatable whether he brake checked him or not tho it looked like he probably did there's deniability there. There is no denying vettel purposefully swerved into Hamilton and to only...
Read moreSorry James, but the stewards reviewed the telemetry; there was no brake check.
Finally a bit of passion in Formula 1! 😂
When a championship is at stake, your emotions can get the better of you. It happens. In my view, Hamilton is not to blame, in fact, I believe this should have been listed as a racing incident! Hamilton was perfectly entitled to back the pack up, and Vettel was not prepared for the change of speed. It is an unusual place to slow down, I admit. But he was entitled to do it. I just hope they can get back to the entertaining, friendly racing they were conducting earlier on in the season!
Brilliant Ryan
His telemetry showed he did not slow down. They were both assuming different race start strategies about each other. Both of them are emotional hard core racers and Vettels emotions got the better of him. The penalty was served and the racing is going to be more intense now. I just hope that. They will be more mature and leave it on the track. The media is acting like a bunch of amateurish school children. But the fanboys for each are crying like a baby that just shit the bed.
I'm not a fan of either (Riccardo al the way) but Lewis Hamilton wouldn't complain if he finished ahead of Vettel unfortunately after the penalty he was out driven by Vettel and fair is fair on that front. Also if Hamilton didn't ha to pit then...
Read moreVettel did not out Drive Hamilton it was a proper dog fight. They're both on the same level. They even admitted. And because Ferrari and Merc are also equal competition now we get awesome racing. I understand being a fan of the sport but and...
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