Vettel later apologised to and “had a very constructive conversation covering the topics in the meeting and more” with the race director Niels Wittich, race stewards said in their verdict following an investigation into the incident. In F1, race stewards make decisions on whether drivers should be penalised for on-track incidents, although the race director can choose to refer incidents to them, which it is said Wittich tends to do as a matter of course. Russell said that incidents such as the Perez one at Silverstone are more likely when drivers can run off track without risking damaging their race than when there is a penalty for going off, such as a gravel run-off or a wall. Russell said: “I do agree we need to stick with one race director and we need to have a bit more consistency with the stewarding. Russell said he accepted that the new cars introduced this year had made the officials’ jobs even more difficult, because their design has promoted closer racing. Russell said: “We do feel listened to but they can’t just change the rules week in, week out when one driver pipes up and says: ‘I think this, I think that.’.

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