Breaking news

Formula 1

Vettel admits team orders defiance was "not right"

Sebastian Vettel admits ignoring Ferrari's team orders in the Russian Grand Prix was "not right", but says the controversy has now been cleared up.

Adam Cooper Norman Fischer

Edited: Oct 10, 2019, 1:18 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

In Russia, the four-time world champion took the lead at the start of the race after a pre-race agreement that dictated pole man Charles Leclerc should tow his teammate, and not second qualifier Lewis Hamilton.

However, when asked later to swap positions with Leclerc, Vettel didn't do so and the Monegasque driver was left frustrated.

Vettel and Leclerc had separate meetings with team boss Mattia Binotto in Maranello last week, but the German played down the significance of his chat with him.

"Generally, everything is clear," said Vettel. "Of course you talk to each other. There was a conversation, but there were also other conversations. I wouldn't make such a fuss around the whole story.

"I think there were positive things in Russia as well. For the first time this year we had a very, very good pace in the race to hold up against Mercedes.

"In the other races we might have been in front here and there, but in general we were a bit slower. So there are positive and not so positive things.

"What agreement there was or wasn't, or who is right and who isn't, is perhaps not so important.

"But of course I got the message at the radio to change the place, and did not do it. And that was certainly not right."

Read Also:

Asked if the rules on team orders were now written in stone he said: "I don't know, there's some stones but we didn't write anything in stone, I don't think it's necessary.

"Obviously there are probably certain things we could have done better looking back. In the end we look forward to this race and the next races, so I'm not worried too much."

Vettel denied that Leclerc's performances had put pressure on him and contributed to his decision to stay ahead in Russia.

"No, not at all. Obviously I'm not happy if I'm slower, whether it's practice or qualifying or race, that's been the same not just this year, but the years before as well. There are certain things, obviously this year I struggled here and there with the car, which I think didn't allow me to maybe extract my best.

"I don't think it would have been any different of anybody else had been in the other car. Charles is doing a very good job, but I generally believe it's first of all a race against yourself and then the others. In that regard I struggled as I said to extract what I know I have in me."

Like Vettel, Leclerc was also keen to downplay the team order situation, insisting that it had now been sorted.

"Obviously there was some misunderstanding from the car," he said. "But I think we've had a discussion and everything is clear now.

"Obviously it felt like it was a huge deal from the outside – which it definitely wasn't, but now everything is fine.

"I think that's clear from the beginning of the season, we need to obey team orders and what is clear is that the situation wasn't clear for both of the drivers, starting the race, and I think that's the most important [thing]. So we spoke about it and we'll make sure that this situation doesn't happen again in the future.

"I think as a team it's always a priority to do good for the team but then as [in] every team, Seb wants to beat me, I want to beat him as much. But the priority is to do good for the team, which we all do."

Leclerc stressed that their schedules did not allow them to have a joint conversation with their team boss in Maranello last week.

"No, unfortunately I had some things happening on the day he was in Maranello, so we didn't have the chance to meet-up together – but I had a meeting with Mattia and he had one with Seb the day earlier. Yeah, everything is fine, as I've said."

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 Ricciardo's legal dispute with ex-advisor settled

Next article Williams drivers did well to "hide" spares shortage - Kubica

Top Comments

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

View More & Comment

Latest news

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

9 min

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 19 min

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

32 min

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?

DTM

DTM DTM 38 min

Ex-DTM champion Guven fails to clear Formula E license hurdle: What is Porsche doing?

Feature

Discover prime content

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

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