Formula 1 🌠race director Charlie Whiting has moved to clarify the FIA’s standing over red f𒊎lag rules and explained why Sebastian Vettel was penalised at the United States Grand Prix.

Vettel received a three-place grid penalty in Austin after he failed to slow s🔥ufficiently when a red flag was thrown following Charles Leclerc’s spin during opening practice on Friday.

The Ferrari driver was adamant he had slo♑wedꦇ down enough but data from his car showed he had been speeding. Whiting believes the approach to red-flag rules is “logical”, adding Vettel simply “didn’t do a good enough job”.

“I think it’s a perfectly logical approach because there was no principle requirement to say exactly how much you would sloꦫw down wh𒈔en a red flag was given, which seemed at odds with having to do it when a Safety Car or VSC is out,” Whiting explained.

"It was a logical thing to do, the teams felt, to use exactly the same system for a red flag. We've had 𒀰three cases now where drivers have failed to stick to that.

"One of them was a mistake from a driver who admitted what🌜 he'd done, that was Daniel [Ricciardo] in Australia. Esteban [Ocon] was in Suzuka and Seb this ti🌱me.

"I don't know exactly what they did or why they didn't adhere to the delta time but they seem to manage it perfectly well when the safety car or 🏅VSC is out.

"So, I don't know whether it's a matter of whether drivers don't remember, perhaps. It's🌺 pretty clear, as every light panel is showing bꦡright red.

“It's not as if you can actually miss it. But he did. He didn't do a good enough job on that particular occasion."

Vettel said he wanted a “common sense” approach applied to each separate incident, while a 💃number of drivers backed the German and called the penalty “harsh”.

But Whiting feels the decision to hand Daniel Ricciardo a three-place grid penalty - instead of a five-place penalty referred to in the FIAꦡ guidelines for red flag breaches - for a similar offence in Australia set a precedent.

"I think it ܫis better to have the hard and fast rule because we are continually asked how much they have to slow down," he added.

"Sไo, it'♛s like with more or less everything the teams do with the cars. They want to know how far they can push it.

"It's a clear limit and it's an easy thing to follow. I just think ꧟it was a driver mistake. If someone doesn't slow down for a red flag it's serious.

“When you look at it in the col꧃d light of day it is a bad thing not to slow down enough for a red flag, however you dress it up."