Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat engaged in a verbal spat after Sunday’s Chinese Formula One Chinese Grand Prix as
the four-times champion blamed the Russian for pushing him into a collision with teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
The two Ferraris came together at the first corner in the race after German Vettel was forced to go wide by Kvyat who
steamed up the inside in his Red Bull.
Raikkonen and Vettel, starting third and fourth, suffered damage in the incident and had to pit for new front wings,
which put paid to their chances of challenging Mercedes pole-sitter Nico Rosberg for the win.
“You came like a torpedo,” Vettel, who finished second over half a minute behind Rosberg, told third-placed Kvyat
before the podium ceremony.
“I was racing,” the 21-year-old responded before Vettel, who also called Kvyat a ‘madman’ and described his move as
‘suicidal’ over the radio during the race, cut him off.
“Not racing,” Vettel said. “If I keep going the same line, we crash.
“You need to expect when you attack like a crazy that you damage your car. You were lucky this time. I had damage and
Kimi had damage.”
Vettel’s point of view did not find many backers, however, with former driver turned television pundit Martin Brundle
saying: “If he had made contact with the Ferrari and shoved it across the track, I think then, as we’ve seen with other
incidents going into turn one, he could well have been to blame,” Brundle said.
“But he didn’t. That’s motor racing. That’s his job to do and he’s absolutely right to say I will do the same thing
again.
“I think Sebastian’s frustrated, he’s embarrassed because he’s run into his teammate. I don’t think Kvyat needs to
hang his head at all on that one.”
Vettel’s team-boss Maurizio Arrivabene also refused to dish out blame. “Pointing the finger on somebody is not
correct,” the Italian said. “I think that Seb or Kimi, they were doing the same in Kvyat’s position. This is racing, it’s
not monopoly.”
TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS (listed in championship order)
MERCEDES (Nico Rosberg 1, Lewis Hamilton 7): Rosberg’s third win of the season, sixth in a row, second in China and
17th of his career. He is only the fourth driver to win six successive races. The German, who started on pole and led
throughout, is now the most successful driver without a title. The last driver to win the first three races of a season
was Michael Schumacher in 2004. Rosberg’s winning margin of 37.7 seconds was the largest in 13 years of the Chinese Grand
Prix, and he now has a 36-point lead over Hamilton. Mercedes have won the last nine races and Rosberg’s was their 100th
podium in Formula One. Hamilton started last, made 18 overtaking moves but still had his lowest finish in 41 races. He
made five stops after a first-lap collision damaged his car.
FERRARI (Sebastian Vettel 2, Kimi Raikkonen 5): Vettel and Raikkonen started on the second row but collided at the
start as Kvyat spotted a gap and charged through. The German called the move ‘suicidal’ and the Russian ‘a madman’.
Vettel still took the 81st podium of his career. Raikkonen had a front left puncture and wing damage, pitted and then
fought back through the field. Vettel did the longest stints of anyone on the soft and supersoft tyres.
RED BULL (Daniil Kvyat 3, Daniel Ricciardo 4): Ricciardo started on the front row but a puncture after running over
debris on lap two scuppered his podium chances. He still said the race equalled the best of his career to date. The
Australian has finished fourth in all three races this year. Kvyat started sixth, began strongly and ended up on the
podium for the second time in his career.
WILLIAMS (Felipe Massa 6, Valtteri Bottas 10): Williams maintained their status as the only team other than Mercedes
to have had both drivers in the points at every race this season. Massa, who made a quick start from 11th, was second at
one point and was happy with his result. Bottas qualified fifth but lost places when the Ferraris collided. His race was
compromised by the start and safety car.
HAAS (Esteban Gutierrez 14, Romain Grosjean 19): Haas had a reality check and failed to score for the first time after
Grosjean’s stand-out performances in Australia and Bahrain. Gutierrez at least finished for the first time this season.
Grosjean had to pit for a new front wing after the opening lap but could at least celebrate his 30th birthday.
TORO ROSSO (Max Verstappen 8, Carlos Sainz 9): Verstappen had to back off at the first corner as the Ferraris collided
and then lost more time at a double pitstop when Hulkenberg was slow into the pitlane after the safety car was deployed.
Sainz also had plenty of battles.
FORCE INDIA (Sergio Perez 11, Nico Hulkenberg 15): Hulkenberg set the fastest lap of the race. He also had a three-
place grid penalty imposed after qualifying and collected a five-second penalty during the race for holding up others in
the pitlane as Perez stopped ahead of him. Perez was third when the safety car was deployed but fell back after
pitting.
MCLAREN (Fernando Alonso 12, Jenson Button 13): The former champions showed flashes of pace, with both drivers racing
hard in midfield. Alonso finished for the first time this season after being ruled out of Bahrain on medical grounds
following his crash in Australia. Button felt a different tyre strategy might have been better at the end.
RENAULT (Kevin Magnussen 17, Jolyon Palmer 22): Still no points for the former Lotus team, further away from the top
10 than previously. Magnussen also started 17th while Palmer was 19th on the grid. Both struggled with heavy tyre
degradation.
SAUBER (Marcus Ericsson 16, Felipe Nasr 20): No points for Sauber yet, either. Nasr collided with Hamilton at turn
one, having to pit with a puncture and broken front wing.
MANOR (Pascal Wehrlein 18, Rio Haryanto 21): Wehrlein ran as high as fourth after the opening chaos and was chasing
Magnussen at the finish.