VETTEL STOPPAGE WAS FOR SAFETY – BINOTTO
Ferrari team boss says Russian Grand Prix-defining incident was unavoidable
Mattia Binotto says the call to stop Sebastian Vettel on track during the Russian Grand Prix, which prompted a virtual safety car period and ended Ferrari’s hopes of victory, was made on safety grounds.
Vettel reported a problem with his MGU-K shortly after pitting from the lead, and followed instructions from Ferrari to park his Formula 1 car in the runoff area beyond the Turn 15 left-hander.
The resulting VSC handed the advantage to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who had started on medium tyres and not stopped at that point. Hamilton ran third behind the two Ferraris early on, but served his pitstop under the caution and rejoined ahead of the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had pitted under normal conditions.
Hamilton went on to win the race, while Leclerc ended up third behind the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas after making a second stop under a safety car period spawned by another incident under the VSC.
“We had a problem on the hybrid side of the power unit,” explained Binotto. “We had a loss of insulation on the car.
And for safety reasons, we could stop immediately.
“It’s a shame because maybe 100 metres later we had the pitlane, but it was the safest action we could do for Seb, and obviously safety is first.
“[It was] only for safety. If it would’ve been for the rest of the car, we would’ve maybe stopped in a different position. But there was really an instruction [that said], ‘as soon as you can, stop’, because of the safety [concerns].”
Asked if such situations usually involve safety concerns for the driver, Binotto said: “Normally not. But obviously, not being fully aware on what was the damage and the problem... we knew that there was a loss of insulation, and you’re right, normally there is no issue for the driver.
“But you’re in areas of maybe it’s not fully known, because you don’t know exactly what the issue [is].”
Binotto added he does not expect Vettel to face a grid penalty at the Japanese GP, despite his control electronics being damaged, because he still has one in the pool from earlier in the season.
FIA race director Michael Masi said a VSC period was inevitable, given that the marshals had to deal with a hybrid engine issue.
“The car was unsafe from an electrical point of view, and it stayed unsafe for the rest of the race,” said Masi. “To recover it in the safest possible manner, and put marshals out there to do so, it was a very simple decision to put out the VSC.
“Moving it back into that hole, because of the electrical issue, we made sure it was well and truly clear and in a safe position before going forward.
“From our end, you’ve just got to be far more cautious. Putting people trackside in that area, there’s a reason there’s a whole lot of Tecpro [barrier] there. It’s because people can go off. [There] wasn’t even a second thought.”