Sebastian Vettel jumped to the defence of Lewis Hamilton when the crowd in the front of the podium boo-ed loudly as they showed their disdain for a race that was decided controversially while denying fans a cracking final few laps.
Once again Vettel made a mistake as he lost control of his Ferrari briefly through Turn 3 and Turn 4, over the grass he skipped before stumbling on to the track and nearly squeezed Hamilton, alongside him, into the wall. A five seconds penalty was issued by the FIA stewards for the transgression.
Amid the boos, that clearly irked Hamilton, Vettel said, “People shouldn’t boo at Lewis. It wasn’t his intention to be in harms way, so people shouldn’t boo at him, they should at those who make the decisions.”
Of his race the German said, “Well I think first of all, I really enjoyed the race and the crowd on every lap. Seeing them cheer me on it was very intense. I think you should ask the pitwall what they think we had a great show and Lewis showed some good respect.”
“It is not about the title now, we deserved to win now and that is our opinion. It was a great race, they [the crowd] cheered me on all the race. it’s a bit weird now, I don’t know what else to say.”
“It is not making our sport popular. People want to see us race, and it was racing. Just a shame when we have these funny decisions” added Vettel who dropped further behind Hamilton in the standings as the Briton racked up Mercedes’ seventh straight win of the season.
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