F1: Timeline of How Vettel’s Canadian GP Incident has Evolved

A lot can happen in F1 over two weeks. As the matter is now officially settled between Ferrari and the FIA; Nathan Hine looks at the timeline of events between the incident that started it all and the situation before the French Grand Prix.

9th June 2019 – Incident

On lap 48 of the 2019 Canadian GP, Sebastian Vettel was leading Lewis Hamilton by less than a second as the German made an error into the turns 3/4 chicane, which resulted in one of the most controversial decisions in modern Formula 1. As the consequence of the error was that the Ferrari driver was awarded a five second penalty because he re-joined the track in an unsafe condition. Now, two weeks on from the incident, Ferrari’s appeal to get the decision overturned and to reinstate their win has failed. So how have got to this point and what does this mean for the sport as a whole?

In a race which should have marked Ferrari’s first win of the season, Vettel made a crucial error on lap 48 of the Grand Prix as the German lost the rear end heading into turn 3 which saw the rear step out on him and was therefore forced to cut across the grass. As he returned onto the circuit, Vettel’s rear wheels were in-line with Hamilton’s front wing, so in catching the second oversteer moment as he went from the grass to the tarmac forced him to steer closer to the wall, which was deemed to impede the Mercedes driver.

Therefore, Vettel was given a five second penalty for the incident with the stewards taking four laps to make their decision as it was declared that the incident was under investigation on lap 54 and the penalty was announced four laps later on lap 58. So while Vettel crossed the line first, his penalty meant he was classified second.

9th June 2019 – Post Race

After the race Sebastian was furious and refused to park his car with the top three and then moved the number #1 position board to where his car should have been, putting the number #2 position board in front of Hamilton’s car.

10th June 2019 – Request to Appeal

But since Montreal the backroom dealings have been interesting. As the following on Monday 10 June, Ferrari launched their request to appeal the decision to penalise Vettel, but reversed their initial decision the following day. That was because firstly it would have to go through the official FIA courts and that Ferrari did not have the right to appeal the decision as it was an in-race penalty.

18th June 2019 – Request to Review Decision

However, Ferrari decided the following week on Tuesday 18 June to request the right to review the FIA’s decision in Canada. Of which the FIA granted the meeting with the Canadian GP stewards and stewards from the French GP at Paul Ricard on Friday afternoon.

21st June 2019 – Review Rejected by FIA

Of which it has been decided today that as no significant new evidence was available, there was no reason for the matter to go any further with their appeal failing. That was with the official FIA statement listed only two new pieces of evidence: 1) Karun Chandock’s Sky pad analysis and 2) a face-cam video from Sebastian Vettel. That was despite Ferrari felt that they had ‘pretty overwhelming new evidence.’

So after what has been a sorry saga for the Scuderia,  while addressing media on Friday at Paul Ricard, Binotto said:

“No doubt that as Ferrari we are all very unhappy and disappointed. We’re disappointed certainly for Ferrari, but we are disappointed for the fans and for our sport. We do not intend to comment any further.” – Mattia Binotto

Now as Vettel’s penalty stands for what seemed to be hard racing as a consequence of the German racer’s error, it seems to be that the FIA needs to decide what they want Formula 1 to stand for. Because as Mercedes continue their domination on the sport, it is essential that the true identity of the pinnacle of motorsport is retained for F1 to find its feet once again.