Sebastian Vettel has been penalised with a 20-second post-race penalty, for passing Jenson Button outside the track, in the final laps of the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
As the clock wounded down and it looked to be Jenson Button who should take 2nd place in the German GP at Hockenheim, came Sebastian Vettel to overtake the Frome Flyer with just a few laps to go. However, the style Vettel made his overtaking move, did not suit the FIA, who immediately started an investigation on the matter.
As Jenson Button approached the hairpin after Parapolica, Turn 6, Vettel moved to the outside of Button, who held his racing line through the corner. Vettel, however, sneaked to the outside of Button, on the left, but outside the track o the run-off area, and eventually took the second step on the podium, next to Fernando Alonso, who won the close race.
After the race, the stewards started an investigation, which has bene concluded. Sebastian Vettel receives a 20-second penalty, and this drops him to 5th, behind Kamui Kobayashi. The top ten results from the 10th round of the 2012 championship looks like this:
Fernando Alonso
Jenson Button
Kimi Raikkonen
Kamui Kobayashi
Sebastian Vettel
Sergio Perez
Michael Schumacher
Mark Webber
Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Rosberg
Team principal of Red Bull, Christian Horner, insists that Vettel was forced off the track and also that he was ahead of Button at the time of the overtaking.
“He goes to the outside. Gets clearly ahead and then Jenson runs him out wide and over the kerb. So I think it is unfair to say he got an unfair advantage from that, it was a racing incident,” Horner said.
“If you slow the camera down to the point that Sebastian leave the track you will see clearly that he is ahead.
“Jenson is actually wheel spinning out of the corner, he has no grip. Sebastian has jinked around him. I think it would be very harsh to penalise him.”
Watching the footage of the overtaking, it is clear that Vettel is behind Button when he overtakes the Briton.
