Vettel hits out at safety car call

Sebastian Vettel has expressed his disappointment at the timing of the safety car, which allowed his rivals to gain an advantage by pitting under safety car conditions.

The German was unable to pit under the safety car as he had already passed the pit lane entry when it came out.

This allowed Red Bull to pit both their cars, eventually leading to Daniel Ricciardo leading and winning the race.

The safety car was called out on lap 31 after the Toro Rossos of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly came together, leaving debris all over the track.

Vettel believes that the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) should have been deployed, which would effectively freeze the race, therefore setting nobody to a disadvantage.

“The timing of the safety car was bad for Valtteri and myself because we had no chance to react,” he said.

“And the race wasn’t frozen either, normally the race is frozen for one or two crossing of the Safety Car line.

“But it wasn’t, the Safety Car was there straight away so basically we were taken out of the race and didn’t have the chance to jump on fresh tyres or stay out.”