Vettel did not 'lose temper’, defends mistakes under pressure

Sebastian Vettel has defended his emotional outburst following his controversial penalty during Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix and says he “wasn’t losing his temper”.

The Ferrari driver ran wide at Turn 3 in the closing stages of the race in Montreal and was hit with a five-second time penalty for re-joining the track in an unsafe manner, handing victory to Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel was furious at the decision and raged over team radio, before swapping the number boards around in parc ferme ahead of the podium ceremony.

Asked if he found it difficult to remain focused in the car, Vettel replied: “I wasn’t [getting] carried away, I was still in the lead and fighting for the victory so obviously from that point onwards I was still doing my race.

“Once I was told [about the penalty] I didn’t understand why and then when I was told why you have to carry on. I had some fuel left so you might as well carry on to the end.

“It’s fair enough that you have things that excite you more and less during the course of a grand prix but I wasn’t losing my temper, I wasn’t happy but I think I have reason not to be happy.”

Vettel’s mistake came under increasing pressure from Hamilton, marking the latest in a string of recent errors from the German. Despite the incident, Vettel was quick to point out that Hamilton also made multiple mistakes during the race.

“I tried everything to stay on the track,” Vettel insisted. “I was under pressure but I was pushing as hard as I could.

“I don’t think we had the same pace and I think if Lewis was ahead in that race he would have controlled his pace and done like the other six races before. We weren’t easy to pass because we had the advantage down the straights.

“Lewis made some mistakes in the hairpin every time he was a bit closer, so you can argue I did the mistake at the wrong part of the track. I lost more time because I went across the track.”

Ferrari has requested a review of the incident, with the Montreal stewards set to hear the Scuderia's case for why the penalty should be re-examined later today at 14:15 local time (13:15 BST).