Toto Wolff: “It is wrong to put pressure on officials over Vettel’s penalty”
The Mercedes team principal claims that it should be avoided to put pressure on the Formula 1 officials over the Vettel’s penalty occurred during the Canadian GP.
The controversial decision to penalize Vettel in Montreal, was determining to allow Lewis Hamilton to win the seventh Grand Prix in a raw for Mercedes. The penalty caused a furious reaction by Vettel and was intensely criticized after the race.
The Mercedes boss, Toto Wolf, affirmed that these kind of episodes create a lot of uncertainty on how the regulations should be interpreted.
"It's clear we want to win on the track in a clean fashion because incidents like this always create a lot of controversy.
"My view on the incident is that it's very difficult for stewards to interpret regulations so that everyone is satisfied.
Wolff continued stating that stewards should not be putted under pressure in such a way that they will struggle even more in the future to make forthrightly a decision.
"What we must not do is put the stewards under pressure in a way that they will struggle even more in the future to come up with decisions.
"We need consistent decision-making from the stewards and we need to support the stewards in their objective to reach that."
Commenting on Vettel’s words, claiming he had no choice about how to enter the track on lap 48 after running into the grass, Wolff remarked how the stewards basically followed the rules in deciding upon the penalty.
"That's not always very popular," Wolff said.
"But somebody needs to do the job.
"This is why whether decisions go against you or in favour of you you need to be supportive.
"We want the best people. If you criticise them like we do today, nobody's going to do the job.
"We need competent people and I can tell you the guys who were on the stewards panel today they are some of the most experienced racing drivers on the planet.
"Therefore you need to respect their decisions, whether they go for you or against you."
He added that he understands the driver’s frustrations when a verdict is taken against him, but remarked that the officials are not to be criticized as they simply decide on the basis of the regulations.
"Making rules is such a difficult exercise," said Wolff.
"You'll not always please everybody with your verdicts.
"In Sunday's situation, like I said, the interpretation was according to the rules.
