Four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel was left to lament his fate yet again instead of mounting a serious challenge on dominant Mercedes.
Hit from behind by home boy Daniil Kvyat in the second turn and again in the third of the Russian Grand Prix, Vettel’s Ferrari ended up in a concrete wall as he was left to drive back to the pits with a scooter instead of climbing the podium.
“I have seen it now. The pictures speak for themselves. What can I do? It wasn’t me who hit someone twice,” Vettel told reporters soon after the frustrating events.
“It doesn’t help if who is behind you doesn’t brake.”
The four-time champion had earlier voiced his disgust in an expletive team radio message, just two weeks after he had a first altercation with Red Bull’s Kvyat at the race in China.
Kvyat had to serve a 10-second penalty, finished far behind in 15th place and apologised later while Vettel went to the Red Bull pit during the race to talk things over with their team principal Christian Horner.
Vettel won four world titles for Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 but the latest setback does not raise his chances to add a first title in his second season at the famed Scuderia who have not topped a drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 title.
Raikkonen achieved Ferrari’s 700th podium in third place on Sunday but Vettel is seen as their best bet to end the drought, after winning three races last year.
But the German trails the perfect Nico Rosberg by a large margin of 67 points after just four races in an up-and-down season.
He finished third at the opener in Australia, his engine blew up in the formation lap in Bahrain, took second in China before missing out again in Russia.
Vettel may have stayed out of trouble had he not been handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change which dropped him from second place in qualifying to seventh.
He had a good start but it was to no avail as he lamented “a race has 53 laps not two turns.”
He added: “It’s frustrating. You do everything right and then you are hit, and hit again, and have no chance.”
After he had taken the world by storm with his four titles for Red Bull, he was hailed as the most likely driver to overtake retired compatriot Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world titles. At 28, he has age on his side but with rivals like Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg going great guns, he probably needs a change of scene to rejuvenate his career.