The Ferrari team principal against the penalty that cost Carlos fourth place: “The situation is similar to others judged normal”
April 02, 2023
– melbourne (australia)
The Australian GP ended badly for Ferrari. It’s frustrating to have fourth place in hand and finish 12th due to a penalty. But barring second thoughts from the race direction, the accident in which Carlos Sainz junior collided with Fernando Alonso in turn 1 sees the Ferrari driver guilty. And those 5 seconds of penalty remedied, due to the arrival behind the Safety Car, practically relegated the Spaniard to 12th place.
bad luck
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For team principal Fred Vasseur, it’s a difficult ending to accept: “There’s frustration because we were doing a good job – he told Sky Sport F1 – Carlos had bad luck between the Safety Car and the red flag. In the end there was a extra pit stop. The pace was good. There was plenty of time to discuss possible penalties. A different position had been taken with Alonso. My opinion? That it was a racing incident.”
more strength
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“Some will say it was Carlos’s fault but we at Ferrari see it as a racing incident. The frustration will give the team even more strength. The Carlos-Alonso situation is similar to other judged to be normal racing incidents,” he added. “Charles is also frustrated by his accident, a situation similar to what happened between Carlos and Fernando.”
positives
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Then on the problems with the car: “I think it’s a matter of finding the best balance for the car. Today we found a more constant balance during the race. The real Ferrari in Baku? I don’t know, I think we were fighting today and not far away from the top, but that’s not enough, the goal isn’t to finish fourth. But we’re taking away some positive aspects from this weekend, the potential is there, the motivation as well and we also have to put ourselves in a position not to run any risk of contact on the track “.
April 02, 2023 – 12:03
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