Sebastian Vettel weighs into Max Verstappen penalty and mocks Fernando Alonso

F1: Vettel insists he can win races at Aston Martin

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Sebastian Vettel has given his take on Max Verstappen’s penalty at the Sao Paulo GP. The Dutchman was fined €50,000 for touching both his own rear wing and that of title rival Lewis Hamilton in parc fermé following the end of qualifying.

The 24-year-old violated the FIA international sporting code that governs all sports sanctioned by the governing body.

In response to Verstappen’s charge, Vettel said: “No, we can’t touch cars. What’s the point? We sit in them. Are we allowed to touch our cars?

“I think we need to relax a little bit.”

The Aston Martin driver also mocked Fernando Alonso’s Spanish accent as he explained what went down at a highly eventful Grand Prix weekend in Brazil.

Vettel has been given the nickname ‘Inspector Seb’ after developing a reputation of glancing rival’s cars throughout his career.

JUST IN: Lewis Hamilton changes view on Brazil controversy but Max Verstappen sticks to his guns

This is when the German opted to make fun of the two-time F1 champion’s voice, as he commented on his nickname.

He said: “I didn’t know that!”

“Maybe I quote another driver [Fernando Alonso], ‘I think it’s a yoke. A yoke,” the four-time F1 world champ chuckled.

Verstappen is in hot water again and awaits the decision from the stewards following his part in the incident with Hamilton on lap 48 while heading towards turn four.

With Hamilton on the outside, Verstappen failed to make the corner, forcing the seven-time world champion off the track to avoid a collision.

The Red Bull racer, who leads the driver’s championship by 14 points, gave his take on the incident from his perspective, which he deemed to be a “great battle”.

“I didn’t need to look at the footage as I was driving the car, so I know exactly what happened,” Verstappen explained.

“Last time out I thought it was a great battle and I had a lot of fun out there as well, at the end of the day they won the race, fair enough, they were faster than us.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, is focused on preparing for the inaugural Qatar GP this weekend and further reducing the gap to Verstappen as this enthralling season reaches its climax.

“I think the reason at the time I would say [what I said] is that’s the mentality you have to take,” the 36-year-old said.

“If you sit in the car at the moment and complain it will only hold you back, so in the moment I just had to keep moving forwards and also it’s difficult to judge on something that you’ve not seen all the angles.

“I re-looked at it and I have a different viewpoint naturally now, but I’m just putting all my energy into setting up the car and making sure that I’m in the right headspace this weekend, so I’ve not really given anything to it.”

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