FIA confirms Vettel overtake was legitimate

Ferrari had asked for the move to be looked into.

PARIS: Ferrari confirmed yesterday that they had contacted Formula One's governing body concerning a manoeuvre by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel during the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix that won him this year's title.

However, according to the BBC, the FIA have confirmed that Vettel committed no offence. Autosport said there was ‘no doubt’ at the FIA that Vettel had overtaken legitimately because a green flag had already been displayed in the yellow flag sector, allowing drivers to resume passing.

"The incident wasn't reported to stewards in the first place because it didn't seem like there was a need to report it at the time," Norman Howell, the director of communications for the International Automobile Federation (FIA), told BBC. "Now that Ferrari has sent us a letter asking for an explanation we will give it to them."

Britain's Daily Mail had earlier claimed that YouTube footage showed Vettel overtaking Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne under yellow flags in the rain-affected race.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2012.