Breaking news

Formula 1 Russian GP

Ferrari: Costly Vettel stoppage dictated by safety

Ferrari couldn't have avoided bringing out a costly virtual safety car after Sebastian Vettel's failure in the Russian Grand Prix, as team boss Mattia Binotto says it had to stop the car immediately for safety reasons.

Adam Cooper

Published: Sep 30, 2019, 8:23 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Marshals move the car of Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF90, off the circuit

Vettel encountered a hybrid issue shortly after making his pitstop, and he obeyed instructions and parked on the circuit just sort of the pit entry. He then jumped out, as he had to assume that the car was “live.”

The stoppage led to race director Michael Masi ordering a VSC.

That in turn allowed Lewis Hamilton to make a quick pi stop, allowing the Mercedes driver to jump erstwhile leader Charles Leclerc, who had previously stopped under green-flag conditions.

“We had a problem on the hybrid side of the power unit,” said 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, ‘As soon as you can, stop,’ because of the safety."

Read Also:

Asked if such situations usually involved safety issue for the driver, he 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 well-known, because you don't know exactly what's the issue. For us it was safety.

Binotto believes that despite the control electronics being damaged Vettel won’t face a grid penalty in Japan, as he still has one in the pool from earlier in the season.

“Now we will need to see, probably we lost the power electronics, but we've got another one. So [a penalty] is not intended, we'll instead use the other one.”

Race director Masi explained that a VSC was inevitable, given that the marshals had to deal with a hybrid issue.

“[It was] because the car was unsafe from an electrical point of view, and it stayed unsafe for the rest of the race,” said the Australian. “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 there. It’s because people can go off. Wasn’t even a second thought [about the VSC]."

Masi praised Vettel for stopping where he did, saying: “Sebastian did a fantastic job pulling it up as close the vehicle opening that he did.

“Even the fact he virtually turned it around to make it as easy as possible to get back into the hole, he can only do so much. In the circumstances I think Sebastian did absolutely the best job he possibly could.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Debate: Was Vettel justified in rejecting team orders?

Next article Steiner may face scrutiny over FIA criticism

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

NASCAR VP explains Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry penalties

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

8 h

NASCAR VP explains Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry penalties

Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicense quest continues

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

8 h

Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicense quest continues

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

9 h

NASCAR issues penalties to Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry for Martinsville brake-checks

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

10 h

NASCAR making progress with short track show but drivers still want more

Feature

Discover prime content

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Lewis Hamilton needs “serious talks” with himself and his team-mate

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Stuart Codling

Lewis Hamilton needs “serious talks” with himself and his team-mate

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ferrari's loss became Max Verstappen's gain at F1's Mexico GP

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The seven moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title win in 2026

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts