2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button says that he was disappointed by the decision to give Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel a five second penalty for a dangerous re-entry to the track and blocking Lewis Hamilton at turn four of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The penalty denied viewers of a grandstand finish to the race, as it was clear Lewis Hamilton could just sit behind Sebastian Vettel and take the win after the penalty had been applied.
Plenty of ex-F1 drivers have sided with Sebastian Vettel to say that the Scuderia Ferrari driver’s penalty was harsh and unjust, and Lewis Hamilton’s former teammate Jenson Button is one of those. Working as a pundit on Sky Sports F1, Jenson Button said after the race:
“It’s really sad. It’s always disappointing when there’s a proper fight on between two greats, two multiple World Champions, and the stewards come in and take that away from us as viewers, so it’s a shame. For me, it’s a racing incident. Yeah, Seb made a mistake, but you’ve got to realise he’s doing over 100mph here. You can’t just stop the car and stay off the circuit. He’s come onto the track with the rear moving around. It doesn’t deserve a penalty for me personally, but it’s a regulation, and they’ve decided to punish it. On a circuit like this – it’s so narrow, it’s a street circuit, the cars are massive and you just end up over that part of the track, you don’t choose to be there. Seb doesn’t want to crash into Lewis either. Both of them drove a really great race, they really did, and it just leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth.” – Sky Sports F1’s Jenson Button concluded at the end of the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
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