Repeat Sebastian Vettel offence would have 'severe' penalty - Todt
FIA president Jean Todt says any repeat offences by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will face 'severe' consequeces, following his clash with Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Earlier this week Vettel attended the FIA's Paris headquarters to discuss banging wheels with Hamilton in anger at a perceived brake test before the second safety car in Azerbaijan.
Vettel apologised for what happened and promised to help educate young drivers and Todt agreed not to take the matter any further.
Speaking for the first time since the FIA's decision, Todt has made it clear that Vettel would be unlikely to escape further punishment if he was to be involved in a similar incident to his Baku clash or the outburst against F1 race director Charlie Whiting in Mexico last year.
"It is up to the president of the FIA to decide whether he should be asked to go in front of the International Tribunal," Todt told Sky Sports.
"After Mexico, which was a completely different offence, and I mean clearly we see that Sebastian, who is a great driver, sometimes is not able to control himself as much as he should. And I used to run drivers, and they are in a very tense situation.
"I think you must try also to interpret the situation well. This doesn't mean that you give them the right to do anything, but you must try and understand it. It's so easy to make decisions behind a desk, or to judge behind a desk. You must accept in life that human beings may have some emotions.
"This thing was a completely different matter, but clearly, Sebastian has had some very strong warnings. And clearly, it won't happen again. If it would, then the consequences would be very severe."
TOUR DE FRANCE COMPARISONS
The FIA's decision to let Vettel off prompted comparisons with the disqualification of cyclist Peter Sagan from the Tour de France after a clash with rival Mark Cavendish.
Todt believes the comparisons and not valid due to the differences between the two sports.
"We are in a business where we need to be very precise," he said. "I am not very familiar with cyclists or football but I think it's irrelevant to compare what happened recently in the Tour de France and what happened in Baku.
"The cyclists were in full action and not during a neutralised period. I don't know what would have been the consequences or what would have happened."
Honda faces dilemma over Alonso's F1 engine after Austria failure
Lowe: Williams slump like Mercedes in 2015 Singapore Grand Prix
Tanak scores first Puma win in preparation for WRC Rally Sweden
Ott Tanak claimed his first victory driving an M-Sport Ford Puma after winning the Otepaa Winter Rally in preparation for next week’s World Rally Championship round in Sweden.
Ranking the worst Formula 1 cars to win a grand prix
Cars that rarely looked like contenders for victory have occasionally slipped through the net to become winners of world championship Formula 1 races. But which was the worst of the bunch?
Schumacher radio criticism highlighted F1 privacy change for Russell
George Russell says that the way an off-the-cuff radio remark criticising Mick Schumacher last year became a big deal shows how he is more under the spotlight in Formula 1.
Newgarden impressed by Chevrolet on IndyCar's new renewable fuel
Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden says he’s been impressed with the drivability of his Chevrolet engine following the switch to renewable fuel and has seen no loss in performance.
How Tyrrell became a racing Rubik’s cube as it faded out of F1
Formula 1’s transformation into a global sport meant the gradual extinction for a small team determined to stay true to its low-budget roots. But Tyrrell would eventually be reborn as a world-beating outfit again, explains MAURICE HAMILTON, albeit in different colours…
Assessing Hamilton's remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver
Many doubted Lewis Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes for the 2013 Formula 1 season. But the journey he’s been on since has taken the Briton to new heights - and to a further six world championship titles
Why new look Haas is a litmus test for Formula 1’s new era
OPINION: With teams outside the top three having struggled in Formula 1 in recent seasons, the rules changes introduced in 2022 should have more of an impact this season. How well Haas does, as the poster child for the kind of team that F1 wanted to be able to challenge at the front, is crucial
The Mercedes F1 pressure changes under 10 years of Toto Wolff
OPINION: Although the central building blocks for Mercedes’ recent, long-lasting Formula 1 success were installed before he joined the team, Toto Wolff has been instrumental in ensuring it maximised its finally-realised potential after years of underachievement. The 10-year anniversary of Wolff joining Mercedes marks the perfect time to assess his work
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
How do the best races of F1 2022 stack up to 2021?
OPINION: A system to score all the grands prix from the past two seasons produces some interesting results and sets a standard that 2023 should surely exceed
Who were the fastest drivers in F1 2022?
Who was the fastest driver in 2022? Everyone has an opinion, but what does the stopwatch say? Obviously, differing car performance has an effect on ultimate laptime – but it’s the relative speed of each car/driver package that’s fascinating and enlightening says ALEX KALINAUCKAS
Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return
He has more starts without a podium than anyone else in Formula 1 world championship history, but Nico Hulkenberg is back for one more shot with Haas. After spending three years on the sidelines, the revitalised German is aiming to prove to his new team what the F1 grid has been missing
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.