Vettel should've been disqualified on the spot

After a chaotic GP2 race at Baku in 2016, there were fears that the inaugural grand prix would be similarly pock-marked by accidents and safety cars, but in the event it was singularly dull, a race notable only for its lack of incident.

This time around it was rather different, and long before half-distance a third safety car period was converted to a lengthy red flag, allowing marshals to clear up what looked like a carbonfibre breakers yard.

Into pitlane the cars peeled, and out got the drivers. In light of recent events one might have expected harsh words - and perhaps more - to be exchanged, but for the moment such behaviour was held in check.

The sweetness and light never lasts, does it? At the beginning of the season, when it became apparent that Ferrari had finally shaken off the mediocrity of recent years, Mercedes folk said they welcomed the challenge, and early season results suggested a championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Both said they relished the prospect of a good, clean, fight, and - until Baku - that is how it was.

As they prepared for the restart, after the second safety car period, Hamilton backed off, as he was entitled to do, and Vettel, presumably taken unawares, tapped the back of the Mercedes.

It caused no great damage to either car, but instantly Vettel drew alongside Hamilton, waving his arms - and deliberately drove into him.

Swiftly it was declared that the incident was 'under investigation', and for some time the stewards discussed it before finally announcing a 10-second stop/go penalty for Vettel, deeming his manoeuvre 'potentially dangerous'.

Given that at the time they were proceeding slowly, behind the safety car, it was hardly 'dangerous' in the manner of Suzuka in 1990, where Ayrton Senna - by his own later admission - deliberately speared Alain Prost off the road at 150mph.

That didn't mean, however, that Vettel's action was other than completely unacceptable, and an opportunity was missed by those in authority to make a big point, not just to the gentlemen of Formula 1, but to every kid on a kart: 'If you behave like a petulant brat, and let your temper get the better of you, you will pay a very high price'.

Vettel should have been disqualified on the spot.

It was back in 2009, in relaxed circumstances, well away from a Formula 1 paddock, that Mark Webber first gave me insight into the Jekyll & Hyde aspect of Vettel's character.

"I can see why Seb's popular," Webber said. "He's normally polite, got a sense of humour, and smiles a lot, but if things go wrong... mate, when it comes to throwing toys out of the pram, I've never seen anyone like him."

A year later we had a graphic demonstration of this at Istanbul, where the Red Bulls, running first and second, had a coming-together, which damaged Webber's car and put Vettel out on the spot.

Although everyone - save perhaps Helmut Marko - agreed that Webber had been blameless, Vettel angrily stood there by the trackside, suggesting with sign language that his team-mate wasn't right in the head.

Then there was Mexico last year, where he took very badly the news that Max Verstappen was to receive no immediate penalty for cutting across the grass at Turn 1, and chose to communicate his feelings to the powers-that-be: "Well, here's a message for Charlie [Whiting]: f*** off!" This, in case anyone had missed it, he then repeated, prompting Maurizio Arrivabene to interrupt: "Calm down, Seb! Just get your head down - we'll talk about it later."

Having appreciated the possible repercussions of his remarks, Vettel subsequently offered apologies both to Whiting and to Jean Todt, but it surprised me that he was let off the hook by the governing body.

"In light of this sincere apology and strong commitment," read the statement from Paris, "the FIA president has decided, on an exceptional basis, not to take disciplinary action against Mr Vettel by bringing this matter before the FIA International Tribunal." Quite what the 'exceptional basis' was remains unclear.

If there is a single Formula 1 radio sound more familiar than the voice of Romain Grosjean moaning endlessly about his Haas's brakes, it is that of Vettel raging about being held up. As Fernando Alonso has said, "Vettel needs to be reminded that the track belongs to everyone."

No one needs to be told what a magnificent racing driver Vettel can be, but in the cockpit of a Formula 1 car he appears much of the time to be in a highly volatile state, constantly infuriated by the behaviour of other drivers. When, in Baku, he believed - wrongly - that Hamilton had brake-tested him, he instantly lost his rag.

Moreover, after the race Vettel was anything but contrite, reminding one of Senna on one of his more excessive days. "Something you have to remember about Ayrton," Alain Prost once said to me, "is that nothing is ever his fault - he doesn't believe that's possible."

On Sunday it was Hamilton's turn to send a message to Whiting: "A 10-second penalty's not enough - you know that, Charlie..." One couldn't disagree with the sentiment, but it was the stewards who had taken the decision.

In the last three years or so, there have been few reasons to feel sorry for Hamilton, for, as Tony Kanaan mischievously pointed out in response to Hamilton's suggestion that there wasn't much depth of talent in IndyCar, he has been one half of a two-car world championship, and 34 grand prix victories have come his way.

That said, Baku should have brought another, for he drove beautifully, and without the red flag would never had the problem with the cockpit head restraint.

More than that, Hamilton impressed with his composure afterwards, saying only that he thought Vettel's behaviour 'disrespectful', that he had no wish to discuss it with him. As his 30th birthday approaches, Sebastian needs to calm down and grow up.