There's something unique about Vettel's Baku crash, which I will highlight by comparing it with all the other pre-meditated collisions I know about or have witnessed, in F1:
> Senna colliding with Prost in 1990. It was a pre-meditated collision, and a horrible, dangerous example to set. However, I can see the BENEFIT behind doing it. Senna won the championship.
> Schumacher collides with Hill in 1994. Again, a despicable move, but I can see why he did it, the BENEFIT. He saw his championship disappearing, and was prepared to do anything, right or wrong.
> Schumacher on Villeneuve, 1997. Again, same as 1997. Disappearing championship, so he saw a BENEFIT to his despicable move.
> Schumacher in Monaco qualifying, 2006, parking with a fake mistake, to stop others from getting pole. Stupid move, but he saw a BENEFIT. He was losing ground in the championship, and would've thought he won't win in Monaco otherwise.
> Alonso blocking Hamilton in Hungary qualifying, 2007. Fernando was also a bit angry, but it was still a calculated move with his physio counting down on the radio, so Hamilton doesn't get pole, which according to the team's rules, Alonso should've had the last crack at.
Hamilton broke the team rules, and Alonso was being unfairly punished. So, in his head, the blocking was to his BENEFIT, making sure Hamilton didn't get the upper hand.
> Rosberg in 2014 Monaco qualifying. Same as Schumacher in 2006, he was losing ground to Hamilton, and he wanted the Monaco win really badly. Of course it's cheating, but at least he saw a BENEFIT.
> Rosberg in 2014 Belgium. He was losing points to his teammate, so he saw an excuse to harm his teammate by puncturing his tyre, and worse case, both retire and he loses no points. As it is, he gained. Again, shady driving, but his mind saw a BENEFIT.
Then came Sebastian at Baku.
I try to see it from his POV, and even then, it makes no sense.
"Hamilton just brake tested me".
"I must have revenge. He should be punished results wise. So I'll complain on the radio, they'll investigate, and he would be penalised."
But then he goes and bangs his car into Hamilton's. What BENEFIT did he see? That Hamilton would retire with damage? Then I'm sure Vettel would've been disqualified AND banned for a race/races, hence losing more points.
No, like the previous collisions, it was a despicable move, but the difference being, this had NO BENEFIT, and hence, was just extremely stupid.
And after a lot of thinking, I could only find one other such on-track instance in high level motorsport. At least Sebastian is in esteemed company. And that move is:
Rossi kicking Marquez on to the tarmac, in anger. Funny how Vettel's and Rossi's moves are so similar, and both are extraordinary examples of brainfade by champions.
However, Rossi's had a bigger trigger, with Marquez helping Lorenzo for a few races, and many laps of insane blocking on Rossi. Vettel lost his cool in one tiny, safety car induced, not actual brake testing. It really is an extraordinary, embarrassing brainfade, specially for a 4x WDC.