Poll: Sebastian Vettel

[andicole0]

The FIA need to be quicker to sort these things out, likewise 3 laps to give the place back is just silly. Decisions need to be quick and decisive. The teams also need to be grown up enough to sort this out themselves and not require a stewards investigation into something where they already know the outcome.

To be honest, I'd have told Charlie and Max to **** *** as well.

The FIA are only the governing authority, rules are made by a number of bodies and upheld at various levels starting with the teams reporting to Charlie Whiting and the stewards, things then escalate as necessary.
It is unusual for anything in a race to require anything more than a stewards decision. Vettel was penalised for on track discretions but his comments were reported to the FIA as a matter of sporting disrepute charges.
Andi.

 

[Jester*]

Swearing on the radio to your team is different to shouting at a ref in a footy match. This would have been a non-issue if FOM hadn't picked it to broadcast.

You cannot compare the 2 sports. Swearing and bad mouthing any official in any sport should be frowned upon and is unprofessional.

FOM is purely the broadcaster, and is there to produce the content for the consumer. So obviously they are going to put to air the juicy explosive stuff. Lets face it, it makes funny listening.

All teams have their radios monitored at all times during all sessions. The drivers know this, so people can hardly point the finger at the broadcaster for the stuff that comes out of drivers mouths.

 

[The_Abyss]

I think he should be punished. A fine would be sufficient. And made to wear an'I love Charlie' helmet in Brazil. And then fined for changing his helmet design.

Joking aside, I don't really give two hoots about the decision to broadcast the swearing. It was bleeped out. I think a fine is warranted for the disrespect shown to the position of race director, the position responsible for driver safety during the race. Who knows - maybe there's similar language in driver briefings, but they're behind closed doors for now at least, until Liberty get control. Race radio messages are in the public domain and it doesn't set a good example. Comparisons with other sports like football are not valid, as frankly FIFA's inability to control their own house and behaviour of players is far from a sensible benchmark for comparison.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Swearing on the radio to your team is different to shouting at a ref in a footy match. This would have been a non-issue if FOM hadn't picked it to broadcast.

I just wish people would learn what they are talking about before spouting such nonsense. He didn't say it to his team, he specifically called out Charlie said the message was for him and NOT the team and then swore at him.

Again this is something basic, FOM don't randomly pick up some transmissions and air them and otherwise only the team know about it. Every single radio message with no exception is monitored by FOM. Charlie will hear anything the people monitoring radios tell him to listen to. Drivers frequently talk directly to Charlie on the radio expecting him to hear the message, it normally happens in wet/safety car conditions where they say Charlie, we're good to go or the opposite. In effect the drivers routinely use the intermediaries monitoring the radio to pass messages directly to Charlie on the radio, which is exactly what Vettel also did.

Vettel knew without question that FOM were monitoring and listening to every message and that Charlie would either hear it as he said it or later. FOM put out the transcripts of radio messages after the race. People believe these messages are private to the team only and a random dude at FOM just sometimes makes some public.

They are ALL public, but only some get broadcast on TV. That message was like a footballer going over and tapping the ref on the shoulder to get his complete attention before calling him a ****. It's nothing at all like going over the bench and privately saying to your manager that you think the ref is a ****.

 

[lunarwolf]

absolutely not.

broadcasters decided to air it to the public for added drama to an otherwise dull race

 

[FrankJH]

He didn't choose to broadcast that message to the public, FOM did. It's not like he did it in a post race interview or into a live mic.

He knew radio broadcasts are transmitted on TV and should act accordingly at all times (he does with team data etc, so he should with this also)

FOM is purely the broadcaster.

strictly speaking FOM are the licence holder as they dont "broadcast" anything, its channel 4 / Sky (and whoever else in different territories) who are the broadcaster given access to the local feed at the track which FOM choses which audio / video feeds get selected.

 

[andicole0]

Vettel not being punished but anyone else will! What's that all about? Oh yes Todt is ex Ferrari.
Andi.

 

[drunkenmaster]

absolutely not.

broadcasters decided to air it to the public for added drama to an otherwise dull race

Being on tv doesn't make it public, the transcripts are published after every race. That makes them public, not private. The radio is never, ever private. Some messages are ALSO broadcast on TV, many aren't, that doesn't make the ones that aren't private team radio messages.

There is no private radio messages in F1 in free practice, qualifying or races.

There is a team of people who monitor the radio transmissions throughout the race, every single radio message sent is heard by people other than the driver and his team. Charlie is referred any and every message deemed relevant.


Again, if you go to a single co-worker who you wouldn't expect to turn around and tell the boss, and say the boss is a ****, that is one thing. If you go onto the company e-mail system, knowing every single e-mail is read and monitored by a bunch of employees and they will pass on any message they deem important enough to the boss and you use that system to not only call your boss a ****, but to actually put in the message hey, this is for the boss(ie give this to the boss and make sure he reads it) you're a ****, that is a very very different situation.

Vettel did the latter, not the former, the latter would get almost anyone in the world in trouble with their boss, the former would get pretty much on one in trouble.

 

[Jester*]

He knew radio broadcasts are transmitted on TV and should act accordingly at all times (he does with team data etc, so he should with this also)



strictly speaking FOM are the licence holder as they dont "broadcast" anything, its channel 4 / Sky (and whoever else in different territories) who are the broadcaster given access to the local feed at the track which FOM choses which audio / video feeds get selected.

FOM is the broadcaster.

If anything the channels are distributors of that broadcast.

 

[Destination]

Non issue for me. I'd be quite annoyed if he got into any trouble regarding it.

FOM chose to broadcast it.

Exactly this, they broadcast it, the bleeped it, all with delay, they didn't have to, they created the issue.

 

[Ninco!]

To be fair to Vettel, if I was being brake-tested, I would be swearing like a trooper.

Verstappen, obviously going the route of making a name - Showing no respect to existing F1 Champions (as per Irvine, Schumacher, Hamilton and Senna)...

Well if Verstappen is one day fighting for a championship - tables can turn...

 

[drunkenmaster]

Exactly this, they broadcast it, the bleeped it, all with delay, they didn't have to, they created the issue.

Once again, the issue is swearing at your boss, not swearing in public. If you swear out your boss at work and no one else in the world knows... you don't get in trouble? So many people in this thread seem to think that it being public is what makes it bad... swearing at a senior person in the organisation you work within is bad regardless. Also again, radio transcripts are published after the race so everyone would have heard about it, just like 6 hours later.

The problem is swearing at Charlie, it being public or not, it being broadcast on TV or not has literally nothing at all to do with it.

To be fair to Vettel, if I was being brake-tested, I would be swearing like a trooper.

Verstappen, obviously going the route of making a name - Showing no respect to existing F1 Champions (as per Irvine, Schumacher, Hamilton and Senna)...

Well if Verstappen is one day fighting for a championship - tables can turn...

He wasn't being brake tested, outside of one extremely fast lap just before Vettel caught up to Verstappen almost all his laps in the final stint were in the 1:24's, he had one single lap in the 1:22 I think just trying to keep out of DRS for another couple of laps. He didn't in any way suddenly get much slower trying to back Vettel up, on faster tires Vettel and Ricciardo were just way way faster than him.

Vettel couldn't get past Verstappen, and had Verstappen braked 10m earlier and not locked up Vettel still wouldn't have passed him. Vettel gave up way before Verstappen locked up, as in Verstappen didn't HAVE to brake that late to prevent losing the place, it was simply a mistake and nothing more.

Also don't forget that earlier in the race Vettel was stuck behind someone and made a radio message to the team calling whoever it was an idiot for costing himself(the other driver) time defending so hard against Vettel. Verstappen remained in the 1:24's though out but it was probably on average higher 1:24's in the last 4-5 laps due to defending more but he absolutely wasn't braking early constantly just to push Vettel into Ricciardo. Before he caught Verstappen, Ricciardo had been gaining 1-1.5seconds a lap on Vettel anyway. Had Vettel made it past Verstappen, RIcciardo was still going to catch him before the end(because Verstappen would have let him through instantly as Ricciardo had let him through earlier in the race) and would have probably had at least one chance to pass him.

 

[Destination]

He isn't his boss, he is a regulator.
He doesn't directly employ vettel, nor even indirectly.

An analogy would be a doctor telling his hospital management to tell the health minister to **** off. Which indeed thousands of them do, every day.

Transcripts may have become available later, but it doesn't alter the situation that they decided to media broadcast it directly. They didn't have to, they did.

 

[LzR]

Voted yes, he acted like a petulant child knowing that the majority of the F1 world was potentially listening, and while doing so pulled a move on Ricciardo which was worse than the one he was complaining about. His outbursts have been getting worse over time and especially this season, he needs a reality slap.

 

[mjt]

He isn't his boss, he is a regulator.
He doesn't directly employ vettel, nor even indirectly.

An analogy would be a doctor telling his hospital management to tell the health minister to **** off. Which indeed thousands of them do, every day.

Transcripts may have become available later, but it doesn't alter the situation that they decided to media broadcast it directly. They didn't have to, they did.

Quite.

Or even telling a colleague that one of the board members of your company can FO. Hardly the end of the world. It's not like you're saying it to their face.

You people need to calm down