Mario Andretti slams stewards for screwing Vettel with a three-place penalty

The 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti has slammed Austrian stewards for giving Sebastian Vettel a three-place grid penalty. In qualifying, stewards deemed that Vettel blocked Renault's Carlos Sainz during qualifying. He was on a hot lap which was ruined by Vettel who failed to get out of the way.

Pundits on Sky Sports have confirmed it was hard for the four-time world champion to move out of the way because he was unsighted. However, Johnny Herbert said he always used to get out of the way anyhow, just in case.

The stewards' decision was met with criticism from Andretti on Twitter.

“Dear stewards, a penalty that could effect a championship should not be imposed unless it´s flagrant. In this case, it clearly was NOT! #shame."

Derek Warwick, another former F1 driver who forms part of the stewards' teams this weekend, defended their decision.

Vettel went on to apologise to Carlos Sainz and confirmed it was never his intention to ruin one of his hot laps during qualifying.