Sebastian Vettel was completely at fault for the incident which cost him any chance of points in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. That is the opinion of Vitaly Petrov, who in 2012 is competing with a back-of-the-grid team for the first time.
In the midfield with Renault in 2010 and 2011, Petrov replaced Jarno Trulli at Caterham for the start of this year. He is sure that fellow tail-ender Karthikeyan did nothing wrong, with the double World Champion having labelled the HRT driver ‘cucumber’ and ‘idiot’ in the minutes which followed the race.
“Vettel shouldn’t have said anything like that or showed him the finger,” Petrov told Russia’s RIA Novosti. “I understand that it’s the emotions, the race. You can understand situations like that, but you have to control yourself.
“Karthikeyan didn’t do anything unnecessary - didn’t hit him, didn’t change direction sharply. Sebastian overtook him and started to turn. But Narain was going straight.”
Karthikeyan was handed a 20-second time penalty for the incident by FIA race stewards including three-time Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert.
The Vettel-Karthikeyan incident can be viewed at GPUpdate TV
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Vitaly Petrov
Sebastian Vettel
Narain Karthikeyan
Teams
HRT F1 Team
Caterham
Red Bull
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Alonso | Ferrari | 2:44:51.812 |
| 2. | S. Perez | Sauber | +2.263 |
| 3. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +14.591 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +17.688 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +29.456 |
| 6. | B. Senna | Williams | +37.667 |
| 7. | P. di Resta | Force India | +44.412 |
| 8. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +46.985 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +47.892 |
| 10. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +49.996 |
| Full results | |||
| Narain Karthikeyan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Narain Karthikeyan photos | |||
| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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| More Sebastian Vettel photos | |||
| Vitaly Petrov | |||
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| More Vitaly Petrov photos | |||
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