World champion Sebastian Vettel needs to “control himself” after suggesting a fellow Formula One driver was an “idiot” for his part in a crash at the last race, Russian F1 driver Vitaly Petrov told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
Vettel suffered a puncture when he hit backmarker Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT while lapping him in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, and finished out of the points in eleventh.
Asked about the incident after the race, Vettel said: “Like in real life, there are a couple of idiots driving on the track,” in an apparent reference to Karthikeyan. ”In that case you have to wonder whether driving is the right job for him."
Vettel’s onboard camera appeared to show him firing an obscene gesture at the Indian driver in the aftermath of the shunt.
Petrov said the behavior was unbecoming of an F1 champion.
“Vettel shouldn’t have said anything like that or showed him the finger,” Petrov said.
“I understand that it’s the emotions, the race. You can understand situations like that, but you have to control yourself.”
Moreover, Petrov said Vettel was completely to blame for the crash.
“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.”
Petrov joined Caterham in February after he was dropped by Lotus Renault at the end of the last season.
He failed to finish at the season-opening race in Australia after a steering problem, but came in 16th in Malaysia on Sunday after battling with the faster cars of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Jenson Button.
