During the qualifying round on Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix, there was a huge incident between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, which caused the Spaniard a potential shot at entering into Q3.
The 2-time world champion was pushing the limit of the Alpine car into the final turn of the Red Bull Ring when he was caught off guard by the German driver, which made him lose time and speed and failed to qualify for the final round.
Hence, former F1 driver Marc Surer feels that Vettel is the one to be blamed for stealing Alonso’s chances to get into the third round of qualifying.
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Surer feels that all fingers must point to Sebastian Vettel for the incident
As quoted from Motorsport.total.com, the Swiss driver said, “Somebody is handicapped and Alonso was severely handicapped – yes, even dangerously handicapped. He came around the corner at full speed and there is a car in front of him. Who is responsible? Who drives in the car?
“You can always blame everyone else now, but in the end you, who are sitting in the car, are responsible for it. For me, Vettel is ultimately despite everything that happened before – responsible for what happened there.
“He robbed Alonso of the chance,” Surer concluded. (Translated from German via Google translate)
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The German defends his actions on the track against the Spaniard
Vettel was seen waving to Alonso as he tried to apologize for ruining his lap. However, the 4-time world champion was slapped with a 3-place grid penalty, which he questioned as drivers in the past have broken the Gentlemen’s code several times before.
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After the quail session, Vettel said, “Well, I only saw very late, not much I could have done and I think its the fault of the drivers ahead that keep jumping the queue and I don’t think that his right, and not what we sort of agreed on.”
When asked about the sacred code between the drivers, the German sarcastic.”Has it ever been in place?”
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Hence, Alonso could only manage to be the fourteenth fastest after the event with Vettel, but was determined to make amends; which he did as cross the line tenth place, bringing home a single point for the Enstone-based team.
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