The ruling said: “The Stewards found that Vettel did, in fact, fail to stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU in marshalling sectors 6 and 7. As the regulation states, Art. 31.6 was added this year to ensure that drivers reduce speed significantly during a red flag. Breach of this regulation is seen to be an extremely serious matter. To be consistent with previous decisions on similar incidents this year, the Stewards assessed the penalty specified above.”

The penalty follows recent precedent: Force India’s Esteban Ocon was given an identical punishment for failing to slow sufficiently for red flags at the Japanese Gand Prix earlier this month. It means Vettel will start no higher than fourth this weekend on a weekend Mercedes is expected to have the advantage in terms of raw pace.

When asked what the stewards’ explanation was, Vettel told reporters following second practice: “They were very specific, saying they took 27.7 seconds to slow down. I saw the red flag and slowed down, had a look around to see if there was a car potentially stuck in the wall or if there was one around Turn 9 or 10 and then slowed down significantly to comply with the rules. They found it took too long and I think it’s pretty straightforward. I think on top there might have been an issue with the timing, with the system. I was aware I slowed down and not much more to say.”

The four-time champion has called for ”common sense” moving forward and he believes the current ruling is wrong.

“I think there should be common sense with the rules that we have,” Vettel added. “Lining out 27.7s precisely as an act of not complying with the rules… I think it’s wrong, I think I slowed down, I had a good look around. I think the rules are clear as well so we know but I think this is the first time we had this in the wet and in the wet the target is a lot slower so you literally have to stop to 30kph or 40kph to bring down the delta, which probably I should do next time. But in my opinion it’s not the right thing because if there is a car behind you it might run into you but it’s more important that you don’t get a penalty.