Vettel’s homecoming results in punishment for Red Bull driver

In front of his fans at Hockenheim, Vettel celebrated finishing runner-up to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who is the first driver this season to win three races.

But around two hours later the 25-year-old was hauled before the stewards and handed a retrospective drive-through penalty which added 20 seconds to his finishing time.

Vettel had been found guilty of exceeding track limits following a move on McLaren’s Jenson Button on the penultimate lap to move up to second.

The end result was Vettel found himself demoted to fifth, losing eight valuable points in his bid to win a third successive Formula 1 world title.

For Button, who finally brought an end to his miserable run in which he had collected just seven points from the previous six races, justice was served.

“Sebastian’s pass was a pretty straightforward matter: the rules state you can’t go off the track to gain an advantage,” said Button, who then highlighted Vettel’s imprudence.

“The thing is, there would have been more opportunities for him before the end of the race as my rear tyres were damaged.”

Explaining his actions, Vettel said: “I wasn’t sure he was still on the side of me or not, I can’t see from the inside of the car, so I tried to give him enough room and went wide.

“The only intention was not to crash and to give him enough room. Although it was good to be on the podium at the home race, I have to respect the steward’s decision.”

Vettel also drew short shrift from Hamilton and team principal Martin Whitmarsh for his unwise criticism of the 27-year-old.

On the occasion of his 100th grands prix, Hamilton sustained a lap-two puncture in running over debris caused by Felipe Massa losing the front wing of his Ferrari in hitting the back of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen at the start of the race.

The slow trundle back to the pits and early stop relegated the Briton to 22nd, and a fight then for respectability.

Come Hamilton’s second stop on lap 33 it dropped him in amongst the leaders, a lap down.

On fresh rubber, and although effectively a backmarker, given the speed of his McLaren he tried to unlap himself by first passing second-placed Vettel.

Far from happy, Vettel waved his hand at Hamilton in disgust, but who then had the speed to pull away and attack leader Alonso.

Post-race, Vettel launched into Hamilton as he said: “That was not nice of him. I don’t see why he tried to race us.

“If he wants to drive fast then he can drop back, find a gap and go fast then.

“But it was a bit stupid to disturb the leaders. He was a lap down, so I don’t see his point.

“If you are a lap down and with no chance of winning the race any more, you should respect that and use common sense.”

Hamilton was terse and somewhat sarcastic in his response as he said: “Maturity has come through I guess. It shows his maturity.”

As for Whitmarsh, he naturally defended Hamilton as he said: “Racing drivers race. If that’s stupid, I don’t know what else.

“He was quicker, overtook and pulled away, so I’m not quite sure of the stupidity. That’s for others to comment on I suppose.”

Even Red Bull team principal Christian Horner could offer no defence of Vettel’s comment, remarking: “His emotions will have been running high.

“It’s unusual when you lap a car that it then drives back past you.

“It was an unusual situation that Lewis was on fresh tyres, he was a lap down, and in Sebastian’s opinion what happened affected his race.

“That’s frustrating, but within the rules he (Hamilton) did nothing wrong. If you look at the rules there’s nothing to say you can’t unlap yourself. He was entitled to do it.”

Hamilton, though, had to retire on lap 57 with damage sustained to the car following his earlier puncture.

So it was left to Button to uphold McLaren’s honour, yet despite pulling to within 0.6secs of Alonso, there was no way past the 30 -year-old Spaniard who now has a 34-point cushion over Red Bull’s Mark Webber who could only finish eighth.

Vettel now finds himself 44 points behind, with Hamilton and Button 62 and 86 points adrift respectively.

With Vettel’s penalty, Raikkonen was elevated to third, with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi a career-best fourth.

Force India’s Paul di Resta finished just outside the points in 11th.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has called for clarity in the wake of the latest technical furore to hit Formula 1.

Ahead of yesterday’s German Grand Prix, Red Bull avoided punishment by the stewards after FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer had called into question the engine torque map of the cars of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber.

But as the map being used did not contravene the regulations, the stewards were unable to take action, leaving Vettel and Webber free to race.

However, there is a meeting of Formula 1’s Technical Working Group today during which the matter is certain to be raised, and in Whitmarsh’s case, clarified.

“It is a good opportunity,” said Whitmarsh. “Clearly the FIA are frustrated by it, so it would be better for there to be clarity and to stop doing it in future.”