Vettel vows to annoy some with victory finger

It annoys some, but Sebastian Vettel has vowed to keep showing the back of his index finger when he wins F1 poles and races.

The gesture is much loved by the German media, but interpreted as irritating and even arrogant by some other figures and paddock pundits.

"It was never my intention to make it a trademark," British newspapers quoted the German as saying ahead of this weekend’s Silverstone race.

Vettel, 23, said he pointed his finger as a natural reaction of jubilance when he won his first grand prix in a Toro Rosso in 2008.

"I was so happy because we were always like 17th, 15th, 10th, or maybe seventh on a good day," said the reigning world champion and current runaway title leader. "There is no deeper meaning. I do it after qualifying but (that’s) not to say I will be first in the race.”

"It’s funny, I hear some people like it, some people get offended. Unfortunately there will always be some people offended by what you do, but that’s how it is," added Vettel.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, meanwhile, has vowed to perform a sequence of illegal ’doughnuts’ on Sunday if he wins his home British grand prix for the first time.

"We aren’t allowed to pick up flags any more, and it would be nice to do that, and if I win I would be doing doughnuts even if they aren’t allowed either; I wouldn’t care about that by that point," said the 2009 world champion.