The rules that decided Vettel's Hungarian Grand Prix

VETTEL'S HUNGARIAN PENALTY

Sebastian Vettel was gutted at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix after throwing away victory with a careless mistake behind the Safety Car. Vettel failed to react to the restart on lap 18 and received a drive-through penalty for dropping more than ten car lengths behind his teammate.

Although Vettel was far from gracious in defeat, he should be admired for his honesty by admitting "At the restart I was sleeping. I was probably relying too much on the radio".

At first glance it looked as though Red Bull had instructed Vettel to ease backwards to make it easier for Webber to jump ahead of Fernando Alonso. Watching from home I was surprised that Vettel would do anything of the sort to help Webber, but as it turned out he was simply unaware the Safety Car was pulling in. Sebastian’s radio was not working and he never heard the usual command to get ready for the green flag.

However, regardless of the Safety Car's status, Vettel should never have been that far behind Webber in the first place. In addition to Article 40.5 of the Sporting Regulations that states no car should be driven unnecessarily slowly behind the Safety Car, Vettel breached two rules that govern driver etiquette.

Article 40.7
“All competing cars must then reduce speed and form up in line behind the safety car no more than ten car lengths apart.”

Article 40.11
“Drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart”

Both of these articles dictate that Sebastian should have been much closer to Mark whilst behind the Safety Car, especially at the restart. It's quite a shock to learn that a Formula One driver would not be totally across all of the rules that govern the sport.

The penalty was very harsh but justified since Vettel's actions had the potential to cost Alonso a position later in the race.

The incident turned into another racing lesson for Sebastian Vettel who will become a phenomenal F1 driver once he adds more experience and maturity to his raw speed.

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.

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