Why the stolen Vettel start was not sanctioned

Inaccurate in qualifying early in the day, with the key pole position won by master hand, Sebastian Vettel lost big at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix a few hours later. The pilot Ferrari moved from its location before the fires went out, before changing its mind and then restarting, losing a lot of ground on the competition. Nevertheless, the German can also consider himself happy not to have paid more for the consequences of this false start, since the commissioners did not penalize him.

Read also:

These are explained in their report, after investigating the incident. "The video shows a movement, but this one was within the acceptable tolerance of the F1 stolen start system, which formally defines a stolen start according to Article 36.13 (a) of the Sporting Regulations"they said. Escaping the penalty, Vettel was able to fight to the end for second place, after leaving Valtteri Bottas escape from the first relay. The four-time World Champion admits, however, that he made a mistake at the start of the race at Suzuka.

"The fires stayed on for a long time, but it's my fault, and I lost momentum"he admits. "It was worse than having a bad start, it was a very, very bad start, after that it was difficult because Mercedes was pretty fast in the race, they had more pace than we did at the end of the relay." Valtteri flew over the end of the first stint and Lewis (Hamilton) tried to make a single stop, but I guess it did not work out, I knew he would come back and try to keep my pace and protect me where he could pose a threat, it was a difficult afternoon. "

Without this incarnation at the extinction of the fires, the victory would have been conceivable? Vettel doubted, minimizing his regrets on the matter. "I do not know because they (Mercedes) could play a lot more with the strategy", he believes. "The lack of pace today in the second stint was at a maximum, and of course I'm not happy with the start of the race, it was a positive day overall with a pole and a second place. do not know what happened with Charles (Leclerc), otherwise we would have had two cars to compete with them. "