© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
At the Dutch Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel received a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags, while Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were battling right behind him.
On lap 36 of the Dutch Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel came out of the pits right ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had just overtaken Sergio Perez.
The German was a lap down from both drivers, but despite blue flags being shown, he did not move out of the way immediately. This led to Perez almost getting his position back from Hamilton.
Later, Vettel was handed a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags. He says there was nothing he could have done to move out of the way faster.
“I mean, not even half a lap and I was out of the way,” Vettel said.
“So obviously I can’t disappear. I have a different opinion, but it doesn’t matter.”
Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack defended his driver and pointed out that he had good pace on fresh tyres.
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“It is always difficult when you have you come out of the pits with fresh tyres, and you get lapped by people that have older tyres,” Krack said.
“He was not really slower at this point. But I think when you look at it, we went maybe a little bit too long in front of Lewis, and you cannot drive one lap in front. So these things happen sometimes.
“We knew that we were going to end up in this situation, we had to stop him. He was made aware, but I think he didn’t see it as bad also, because he had the pace obviously, and he told us also I have the pace to drive away.
“But if you have the flag, you have the flag,” Krack concluded.
