F1 is very strange

And now, a brief pause for a Blob about Formula One, which most of America thinks is an energy drink, or an infant superfood, or perhaps "You mean that racing series where Mercedes wins all the time, Ferrari finishes second all the time and Red Bull finishes third all the time?"

Well ... yes. Door No. 3, actually.

Likely most of you didn't catch the kerfuffle up in Canada yesterday, when Lewis Hamilton delivered Mercedes' seventh straight victory of 2019 because Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel couldn't outrun the course stewards. It seems Vettel got out of shape entering a corner while leading, ran through the grass, almost lost the car, then recovered it in time to stay just ahead of Hamilton, who had to check up to avoid a crash.

For that, F1 docked Vettel a five-second penalty. Which allowed Hamilton to win even though he finished second, if you can process that.

Here's the video. You watch it. I've watched it half-a-dozen times, and I'm still trying to figure out why Vettel got penalized for, essentially, pulling off a great save.

Because that's what I'm seeing here: Vettel overshooting the corner, running through the grass, nearly losing the car getting back onto the pavement, then saving it. And gaining no advantage in doing so because he entered the corner P1 and came back onto the track P1.

Yes, it was a near thing with Hamilton, who, (at least in my opinion) foolishly ran up on Vettel as he struggled to maintain control and had to check up before Vettel nearly put them both in the wall. He had complete control of his car. Vettel did not. So, frankly, the near collision seemed more on him than on Vettel, who was simply trying to get his car back under him.

Bottom line, though, is they didn't collide. They didn't even touch. And Hamilton having to check up because he rashly tried to shoot a rapidly closing gap had zero effect on what happened later in the race.  Hamilton still wound up closing on Vettel in the final laps, and would undoubtedly have taken a run at him if he hadn't had the five-second cushion afforded by the penalty.

Even the TV announcers admitted Vettel had done nothing wrong. And yet ...

And yet, he was assessed a penalty that cost him a win. And wasn't happy about it. And shouldn't have been.

F1, man. It is a strange planet sometimes.