A 2

But for the fireworks from Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo towards the end, a major portion of this race was dull.

So while there was drama in the green room before they eventually decided who finished third. It now actually turns out Ricciardo finished in third for Red Bull. The championship battle was not even a side show today with all the Vettel and Red Bull drama.

F1 Racing News | Racer.com - F1: Vettel loses Mexican GP podium

The stewards deemed Vettel made an "abnormal change of direction" that was "potentially dangerous" and handed the time penalty as well as two points on his license.

As a result, Ricciardo was promoted to third place in the revised classification, with Verstappen moving up to fourth and Vettel slotting into fifth.

It comes after the FIA issued a clampdown on drivers moving under braking ahead of the United States Grand Prix, a change that was referenced in the stewards' statement.

"Notwithstanding the F1 Commission directive to 'let the drivers race,' we note the concern that has been expressed about maneuvers involving a change of direction under braking as expressed at the drivers briefing at the U.S. Grand Prix and in the race director's notes from the U.S. Grand Prix and this event," it read.

"The telemetry and video evidence shows that the driver of car 5 did change direction under braking.

"Article 27.5 and the race director's notes have essentially three criteria that determine a breach: driving in a manner potentially dangerous, an abnormal change of direction and another driver having to take evasive action.

"The video footage, including the close circuit footage, the broadcast vision, both drivers' on board cameras plus the telemetry show that there was an abnormal change of direction by car 5 and this was considered to be potentially dangerous in view of the proximity of the wheels of each car. The video evidence clearly shows that car 3 had to take evasive action as a result.

"Accordingly, as all three criteria have been met, the driver of car 5 is guilty of a breach of article 27.5."

Vettel now has six points on his superlicense, with any driver who accrues 12 over a rolling 12-month period receiving a one-race ban.

Vitt

I can't believe what they did to Vettel. I mean, Even Red Bull told Verstapen that he would have to give up the position even before a decision came from race control, but the ONLY reason Vettel got into that close battle with Ricciardo at that point in the race is because Race control didn't order Max to move over right after it happened. So that allowed Ricciardo to catch up to Vettel. I forgot what lap it was, but had Max been ordered to give up the position right away, maybe Max would be batting it out with Ricciardo and Ricciardo wouldn't have time to catch up to Vettel. I'm not disputing what Vettel did, but had race control done their job, maybe Vettel would have avoided all those problems.

Vanishing Point

The FIA is a preverbial joke in F1, the same could be said for other venues. The whole F1 business model is tenuous at best, viewership and track attendance is lagging and the whole sport is in a downward spiral. IMSA just fired some of it's longstanding management people, get ready for some NASCAR loving suits to step in to screw that organization up. It doesn't look good for the future of professional motorsports.

A 2

The stewards making a call sooner would have worked well for Ferrari

it is sad sad to see the podium position being altered so many times. Vitt - you make a very good point about the stewards being timely

As much as I like Max and I enjoyed the drama yesterday at the end of the race, this isn't racing really. I'd rather have clean fights on track than the stewards deciding who gets to spray champagne at the end.

I get that Max was helping out his teammate. And he was well within his rights to ignore a suggestion by his engineer. But I hope they can all be more gentlemanly about it. Not a fan of Vettel asking CW to F off either.