FEATURE
Shortly after the incident Vettel told
media in the Sepang paddock, “Both of us
are making the corner, but Nico decides he
is taking a different line. That is two things
that are wrong. Nico, without any blame,
gets turned around, and secondly I am
standing here when the race is still going
on.”
“If you are squeezed to the inside your
angle doesn’t get better for turn one. “I was
trying to turn to get the corner. Nico tries
to cut back to fight Lewis and we made
contact. Nico is not to blame, but I do not
see what I could have done different.”
“Racing him [Verstappen] he’s moving
around, I think everyone knows by now. If
you get squeezed to the inside the angle
doesn’t get any better for T1. It was quite
bad the angle, I was trying to do everything
to turn and get the corner and I do get the
corner but Nico tries to cut back, I guess
to fight Lewis, and at that point we make
contact.”
However a few hours after the race the
FIA stewards reported: “Having thoroughly
reviewed the video and having spoken
to the driver concerned, the Stewards
determined that although the cars involved
in the incident were all moving at relatively
similar speeds, the driver of Car 5 [Vettel]
made a small error entering to the inside
of Turn 1 that led to the contact with Car
6 [Rosberg].”“As a consequence, Car 6
was caused to spin from second place and
lose multiple positions, which the stewards
determined was predominantly the fault of
the driver of Car 5.”