Jacques Villeneuve is the latest to defend Sebastian Vettel after Canada penalty: “A bad call that ruined the race”. The 1997 F1 world champion reflects in Seb's penalty in Montreal.

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve admitted that Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo deserved a penalty for defending against Valtteri Bottas on the back straight more than Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel deserved his penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton in a dangerous re-entry to the track.

Valtteri Bottas was stuck behind the Australian just over halfway into the race when he was forced to lift off on the back straight due to Ricciardo’s defensive driving. This incident never went under investigation by the stewards, unlike Sebastian Vettel’s incident, which led to a five second time penalty for the German, gifting the win to Lewis Hamilton.

Jacques Villeneuve told Autosport: “I wasn’t surprised by Vettel’s penalty, because it’s often the opposite of what happens. Ricciardo deserved a penalty for the way he drove in a straight line, and he didn’t get one. It’s often been like that. It’s bad for F1 anyway. It ruined the race because it was a bad call, not because it should have been a different winner.’ If Vettel had done something dirty or bad, like Ricciardo did on the straight, that would have deserved a penalty, and that would have been fine, even though it would have been another Lewis win.” – former Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve concluded, as reported by Autosport earlier today.