Video: F1 World Champion Flips Off Fellow Driver

Published: 26^th Mar 12 12:18 pm

by Alan Dymock
Alan Dymock

RANT It!

We’ve all experienced a little road rage. You get out there, you’re stressed, you’re sweating, you’re concentrating and –BAM! –someone cuts you up or clips your tail.

If this happens to you or me we get mad. However, if this happens to you whilst you are driving some of the world’s most expensive automobiles in the high pressured environment of Formula One, you would be furious. Then someone puts a camera in your face…

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel, the German driver for Red Bull, felt he was impeded yesterday during the Malaysian Grand Prix. His tire was punctured in an incident with HRT driver Nairan Karthikeyan. Afterwards, in front of the cameras, he declared that when you are out on the track there are ‘idiots’ just like there are on the roads.

The man he may well have been labeling and idiot, Karthikeyan, said himself that the big name drivers in the more expensive cars tend to try and bully there way about the track. Even if he was a full 7 seconds off the pace the Indian driver felt he deserved more respect, especially on more difficult parts of the track.

This was only the second race of the season and Vettel is already frustrated that he is dropping points. He was beaten to the podium by Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), third, Sergio Perez (Sauber), second, and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), first. Vettel finished eleventh after his tire puncture.

The winner of last week’s GP in Australia, Jenson Button (McLaren), had already had an incident with Karthikeyan as they both raced, but Button admitted that losing his front wing was his own fault and that he deserved his 14th place finish.

Vettel was less magnanimous and made his feelings known as he gesticulated at Karthikeyan later on. Recognize the hand gesture?