Lauda: Why Vettel gets only 5-seconds for enormous mistake?

The champagne had not yet been sprayed on the podium when Mercedes F1 chairman Niki Lauda questioned the leniency of the Ferrari driver's penalty, "Why Vettel gets only five seconds for this enormous mistake?"

"I don't understand. It's too little. Five seconds is nothing. He destroyed the whole race for himself and for Bottas."

Bottas himself was despondent when talking to reporters at the end of the day, "We were going side-by-side I went for the outside, left enough room for him, but he went wide and hit me. I got a puncture and damage to the floor, which compromised the race."

Immediately after the race, Hamilton watched the replay of the incident while in the pre-podium room and remarked, "He took him right out. Ah, man, that's crazy!"

The race winner later, "It's disappointing for the team because we had a chance to get a one-two and that's the ultimate goal. Valtteri really had done a solid job all weekend, as he has really been doing this year."

"Ultimately you shouldn't really be able to finish ahead of him if you took him out of the race. That's the call they made," lamented Hamilton.

Credit to Vettel, who was voted 'Driver of the Day' by fans, for accepting the blame for his role in the incident, "My start was too good and I ended up with nowhere to go. It is my mistake."