Sebastian Vettel Warns F1 Against Becoming “Too Artificial” Over Baku Restart Decision

After a two-year absence in Azerbaijan, F1 returned to Baku this weekend. And the street race lived up to its reputation of providing entertainment till the very last lap. Amidst all the chaos, Sebastian Vettel secured his first podium with Aston Martin. The ‘Driver of the day’ finished an impressive P2 in a race where both championship contenders didn’t score any points.

In the post-race press conference, the German addressed the standing start after the red flag, and what F1 needs to watch out for.

Sebastian Vettel believes F1 needs to be wary of making the sport “artificial”

Max Verstappen led the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for over 27 laps. However, disaster struck the Dutchman on Lap 47, after he spun into the barriers on the start-finish straight.

With two laps left, race control decided to restart the race with a standing start. Although it provided lots of entertainment for the fans, drivers across the grid inherited mixed fortunes. While Vettel finished P2, Lewis Hamilton, who was second for a majority of the race, ran off the track in Turn 1 to finish P15.

Vettel mentioned the sport has a history of putting on a show, which could make races more exciting. However, the German warned against making it more about the show than the actual sport itself.

The German said, “It has become more and more like this in the past, more and more focused on creating a show, so I hope that in the future the races are more exciting.

“I think today was probably an exciting race for various things happening and so on, but yeah, I think we just need to watch out that it doesn’t become too artificial and we don’t lose the roots of the sport.”

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Vettel: Sometimes you enjoy it, sometimes it destroys your race

The four-time world champion stated that events like these are either enjoyable or destructive for a driver’s race. However, according to him, the most important aspect is the safety car, which came for both Verstappen’s and Lance Stroll‘s crashes in the race.

“Some things… sometimes you enjoy and sometimes it destroys your race but the main thing obviously is that the safety car comes when it’s really necessary and in those two cases we didn’t even need to argue,” said Vettel.

After back-to-back Top five, Vettel seems to have regained his form of old. This is the Vettel everyone expected to see at the beginning of the season. However, with the French Grand Prix in two weeks’ time, fans will believe it’s better late than never.

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