UPDATE: Following the race, Vettel was handed a 10-second time penalty, dropping him to fifth.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was not too happy about being placed under investigation in the closing moments of Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Vettel was running in fourth place behind Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the race. Verstappen had just run off course and came back on in front of Vettel, leading Vettel to believe he should let him by.
However, Verstappen remained in front and Vettel believed he was holding him up, ultimately allowing Verstappen’s teammate - Daniel Ricciardo - to run Vettel down and challenge for fourth position.
The two - Vettel and Ricciardo - made contact, and Vettel was placed under investigation for aggressive driving while defending his position.
When informed that he had been placed under investigation by race director Charlie Whiting, Vettel came back over the radio asking his team to tell Whiting to “[expletive] off.”
Verstappen crossed the line ahead of Vettel and then Ricciardo, but was handed a five-second time penalty, dropping him to fifth.
Vettel ended up taking the third step on the podium.
“You have to understand, the adrenaline was pumping, I put him under pressure which is difficult enough, our tires both were pretty old and then obviously he left the track and didn’t move so you can understand why I was annoyed,” Vettel said on the podium following the race.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo told journalists that he believed Vettel had made a defensive move under braking and should have been penalized.
