		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Jackie Stewart believes Lewis Hamilton must take some of the blame for an on-track bust-up with title rival Sebastian Vettel during Sunday&#8217;s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.</p>
<p>Vettel hit the back of Hamilton&#8217;s Mercedes as the pair weaved behind the safety car, with the German claiming he had been brake-tested by the three-time world champion.</p>
<p>The Ferrari man responded by pulling up alongside Hamilton, gesticulating and then seemingly driving into the side of the Mercedes before falling back in line.</p>
<p>Hamilton denied braking suddenly and labelled his rival a &#8220;disgrace&#8221; &#8211; with Vettel hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and handed three penalty points on his licence following his actions.</p>
<p>But, while Stewart feels Vettel has tarnished his reputation with the stunt, the Scot &#8211; world champion in 1969, 1971 and 1973 &#8211; reckons Hamilton should accept a portion of the responsibility for the flashpoint.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;His reputation is certainly tarnished,&#8221;</i> Stewart said when asked about Vettel&#8217;s actions.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;But at the same time what created the incident is what occurred when Lewis slowed down so quickly in a very unlikely place. You have got to take that into account.</p>
<p>&#8220;That was a shock to Sebastian, and that is why he came alongside Lewis to ask &#8216;what the hell are you doing?&#8217; What Vettel then did was to unquestionably collide with Hamilton. There is no room for that, no excuse for that and it is wrong. It is inappropriate behaviour.</p>
<p>&#8220;It would be very simple to put the complete blame on one man, but what initiated the bad behaviour was what happened before.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was totally unexpected. I am not trying to hook Lewis into this the wrong way, but that was the whole crux of what happened.</p>
<p>&#8220;Lewis put his brakes on so hard that Vettel hit him. I am not blaming Lewis for the accident but I have to say I have never seen anyone come off the throttle so quickly. You either to do it to surprise them, but what happened was the surprise was too severe.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>The incident occurred at the end of a second safety car period during a frenetic race in Baku that was eventually won by Red Bull&#8217;s Daniel Ricciardo.</p>
<p>There were three safety cars deployed as Hamilton was forced to pit for a repair to his headrest just as Vettel was hit with his time penalty.</p>
<p>That left the pair squabbling over fourth and fifth, with Vettel holding off Hamilton to finish behind Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll.</p>
<p>Stewart also questioned Formula One&#8217;s current set-up for dealing with such occurrences.</p>
<p>The FIA, motorsport&#8217;s governing body, currently has three to four race stewards per grand prix, with one former driver making up part of the panel.</p>
<p>They are rotated on a regular basis and most are drivers who ended their racing careers some years ago &#8211; with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Derek Warwick, Mark Blundell and Mika Salo having filled the role.</p>
<p>In Baku it was American Danny Sullivan who was the appointed former driver, having raced in 15 F1 races for Tyrrell in 1983.</p>
<p>Stewart wants to see a regular position for an ex-driver from an era closer resembling that of today&#8217;s racing.</p>
<p>Asked if Vettel should face FIA sanctions, the 78-year-old said: <i>&#8220;There is room for more disciplinary action, but I have criticism about the stewarding at races.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are a different set of stewards at almost every grand prix. In my opinion, the FIA should choose a retired grand prix driver, give him a proper salary, and a position that he is the authority.</p>
<p>&#8220;They should sign him to a two-to-three year programme so he has full knowledge of all the drivers&#8217; behaviour. It would take somebody that has been in the business recently, who has retired.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the moment we are dealing with a bunch of extremely mature representatives from countries who are signed up by the FIA. They swap these people around to give them an opportunity to come to a grand prix.</p>
<p>&#8220;That is servicing the FIA&#8217;s good relationships with nations. Those so-called stewards could come from a variety of different places and many of them are of different ages.</p>
<p>&#8220;They can&#8217;t then possibly give consistency to either the disciplinary actions or have the knowledge that is required to make judgements that could affect the outcome of world championships.</p>
<p>&#8220;(FIA president) Jean Todt won&#8217;t like me saying this, but I don&#8217;t think it is as professionally handled as it should be.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Hamilton and Vettel will renew their title fight in Austria in a fortnight&#8217;s time, with the latter 14 points clear at the top of the drivers&#8217; championship.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed30537acda">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed30537acda',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
