Sebastian Vettel makes Lewis Hamilton claim ahead of Canadian Grand Prix incident verdict
SEBASTIAN VETTEL believes the penalty he received during the Canadian Grand Prix changed the race with Lewis Hamilton breathing down his neck.
The Ferrari driver crossed the line first but was given a five-second time penalty for impeding his Mercedes rival.
And that handed Hamilton the win to move him further ahead in the drivers’ championship.
But Sebastian Vettel believes the Brit still tried to overtake him in Canada and was not just sitting behind knowing he would pick up the win courtesy of the stewards.
“It didn’t feel like he was easing off,” the German said.
“But certainly it changed the race from that point onwards because I don’t know how much Lewis Hamilton was backing off or not.”
Vettel also confirmed new evidence and information would be presented by Ferrari to the FIA ahead of the French Grand Prix.
“First thing of all is to open the case again and have another look,” he said.
“We bring some information that maybe the stewards didn’t have at the time.”
Asked what the new evidence is, he replied: “Ask the team.”
Lewis Hamilton discusses Sebastian Vettel's penalty
Vettel admits his thinking behind the incident hasn’t changed and he still believes he had nowhere else to go when returning to the track in Canada after running wide.
“I still have the same view that I had two weeks ago,” he explained.
“It’s fair enough that you have things that excite you more and less during the course of a grand prix.
“I wasn’t losing my temper, I wasn’t happy but I think I have reason not to be happy.”
The French Grand Prix takes place on Sunday with lights out at 2.10pm BST.
Hamilton will look to extend his 29 point lead over Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the standings.
Vettel has also opened up on what he expects this weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard.
“At the moment Mercedes are leading and we are behind,” he said at Thursday’s press conference.
“It’s still quite a way away from here, though.
“If we win every race from here on, it’s a walk in the park.
“But you don’t have to be a genius, obviously we have a lot more points to score, but we also know Mercedes are in better form than us.
“I think Canada helped our car in terms of track characteristics, we saw on Sunday that it was very very tight.
“We are pushing very hard, we have some new bits here, and hopefully we are able to continue to close the gap further.
“I said some weeks ago and I will continue to say it, the next few races are important because once you get to race ten, then there’s only 10 or 11 races left.
“At some point we need to start to turn it around, because you can’t beat them by finishing behind them.”