The FIA have declared themselves “happy” with Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel’s restart after the first Safety Car period in Baku, after Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton accused his rival of being “dangerous”, as Sebastian faked the moment when he was going to restart the race again.
But the FIA has not officially confirmed that it will not be looking any further into the incident after reviewing the footage: “I think he [Vettel] controlled it very well but it’s up to the leading driver to say when we go.” – Charlie Whiting, the FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Technical Department explained, as reported by the British and Italian media earlier today – “Unlike some other series, they have an acceleration zone, a place where you can accelerate. You can’t do it before or after that. Once it goes green, the Safety Car comes into the pits, it’s up to the leader to decide when he is going to go. This is a tricky place, they catch the Safety Car too early if they go too quickly. I think Seb controlled it well. There was a bit of a complaint from Lewis that he wasn’t going at a constant rate, but if you look down the field, there’s a few places where that happens. To expect them to go at one speed doesn’t happen. So long as no one does anything dangerous, we’re happy.” – Charlie Whiting concluded.
However, Lewis Hamilton is still planning to bring up Sebastian Vettel’s restart at the next drivers’ briefing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend.
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