Lewis Hamilton accuses Sebastian Vettel of breaking the rules with start-stop tactics behind safety car
British superstar demands answers, saying: 'You're not allowed to gas and then brake, you're not allowed to fake the car behind'
LEWIS HAMILTON will demand answers from F1's governing body about Sebastian Vettel's driving in the Azerbaijan GP.
In an action-packed race in Baku, Vettel's driving behind the safety car went largely unnoticed but Hamilton claims the Ferrari driver was breaking the rules.
Hamilton accused Vettel of deliberately slowing down and accelerating, causing a concertina effect through the chasing pack which could have caused a collision.
And the Brit will speak to race director Charlie Whiting at the Spanish GP for clarification over the rules, which Hamilton says has set a dangerous precedent.
He said: "The rules are when the safety car goes you're not allowed to start, stop, start, stop. You're not allowed to gas and then brake, you're not allowed to fake the car behind.
"If there was not that rule, that's what you would do, and eventually you catch them sleeping.
MOST READ IN MOTORSPORT
"You're not allowed to do that. You're allowed to weave, you're not allowed to start-stop. That's against the rules.
"If you look at all the times, every restart I've done, particularly the four I did last year I didn't do that and I've done by that.
HARD TO TAKE Zak Hardaker banned for 14 months for testing positive for cocaine
"But in Australia Sebastian accelerated then brakes and I nearly went up the back end of him. In Baku he did it maybe four times.
"The stewards supposedly said that all the other cars are doing it. But we're the leaders, so cascades down, it's a domino effect. What the first car does, everyone does the same thing.
"What that does is that now sets a precedent so that means that everyone that's leading a grand prix under a safety car can start-stop.
"That goes down to Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula Four because they're not going to get penalised.
"So I need to get that rectified when I have the briefing next because clearly they don't care about it and if that's the case then we will see more of that.
"And I would expect that from [Vettel] next time I'm racing him.
"If you noticed I already put my car to the right to avoid a collision because he was starting and stopping."
Hamilton complained to Whiting over the radio during the race, but the veteran race chief says he saw no reason to punish the German.
How to win £1MILLION with Sun Six
SUN SIX is the new predictor game where you can win £1million - just by correctly picking the results of six games.
Here is how to get your mitts on the million:
- Make your picks - predict the scores from these six games
- Enter your details - quickly sign up to Sun Bets so we can contact you
- Score £1m - Watch the scores roll in and you can win £1m
Top pundits IAN WRIGHT and DANNY HIGGINBOTHAM have made their picks for this week if you need a steer.
And remember, you can claim a free £30 bet with Sun Bets when you sign up put a tenner on this weekend's football .
He said: "There was a little bit of a complaint from Lewis that [Vettel] was not going at a constant rate.
"But then when you look down through the field quite a few places where that happens so I think to expect them to all go at one speed doesn't seem to happen.
"As long as no one does anything that's obviously dangerous then I think we're happy with what happened and I think he did control it rather well."
Meanwhile, Toro Rosso driver, Pierre Gasly has slammed Kevin Magnussen as "the most dangerous guy" he has ever raced against.
The Frenchman accused the Haas driver of trying to put him in the wall after a high-speed clash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
MOST READ IN SPORT
Gasly fumed: "Kevin is the most dangerous guy I have ever raced with. He literally put me in the wall at 180mph at the restart and completely ruined the race.
"I knew exactly what he was doing, and he put me in the wall. He's been always like this.
"He's been always racing hard. I don't mind racing drivers which are hard, but like this is just way over the limit. You don't put someone in the wall."