Motorsport News – July 17, 2019

Bothwereabletoregain

thecircuitaftertheshunt

Verstappen’s car picked up

some significant damage

Ferrari man humble after spectacular Silverstone crash ruins his race weekend

PAGE 4

VETTEL APOLOGISES FOR

VERSTAPPEN ACCIDENT

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HEADLINE NEWS

Photos: L AT

ByMattJames

Four-timeworldchampion
SebastianVettelhasapologised
to rivalMaxVerstappenafterthe
Ferraridrivermadecontactwithhis
RedBullrivalat theBritishGrand
PrixandrobbedtheDutchmanof
a potentialpodiumfinish.
Thepairwerebattlingonlap 38 ofthe
racewhenVerstappengota runaround
theoutsideofVettelgoingintoStowe
corner.Verstappenmadethemove
stick,buttheFerraridriverlookedto
immediatelyclaimtheplaceback.
HelookeddowntheinsideoftheRed
BullgoingintoValebutabortedthe
move.Hepulledbacktotheright-hand
sideofthecarinfront,butwasunable
toavoidcollidingwiththerearofthe
Honda-poweredmachine.
Vettel,whois now 13 pointsbehind
Verstappeninthebattleforthirdplace
inthedrivers’championship,said:
“Itwasmyfault:I madea mistake.”

Podiumpain
ThecontactmeantthatVerstappenwas
relegatedtoa fifth-placedfinishbehind

Ferrari’sCharlesLeclercandPierre

Gasly’sRedBull.

VettelapproachedVerstappenin

parcfermeaftertheraceandshook

hishand,apologisingfortheincident.

Vettelhadbeenforcedtopitto

changethedamagednosesectionof

hisSF90andhepickedupa 10-second

penaltyforcausinga collision.Hewas

alsohandedtwopointsonhisrace

licence.Hefinishedinpenultimate

position,16th.

Verstappenwasplacidafterthe

incident.“I guesshemisjudgedhis

brakinginthere– butI alreadyspoke

tohim,heapologisedtomeimmediately

outofthecar,andthat’sit,”the

six-timegrandprixwinnersaid.

“It’sdisappointingbutyoucan’t

changeit now.”

ThecollisionspunVerstappen’sRed

Bull,whichhadbeenrunninginfifth

spot,around.ThatledtotheRB15being

launchedairborneoffthesausagekerb

ontheinsideofthecorner.

Verstappen,whoendedupfinishing

ninesecondsoffthepodium,saidit was

“abitofa surprise”thathehadn’tretired

onthespot.

“Thepowersteeringmoreorlessfailed

soit wasquitea hardworkoutformeout

there,theseatpoppedupsoit wasmoving

arounda lot,”heexplained.

“Thediffuserwasbroken,thefloor

wasbroken,underneathI couldseeparts

fallingoff.[It]wasnotgreat.Thecarwas

notwhatit should’vebeen,[soI’m]still

happytobefifth.”

Vettel’sclosinggap

Vettel,whoselastworldtitlewasin

2013,saidhewasfullyresponsiblefor

theaccidentandhehadchangedhis

mindaboutthecauseoftheincident

duringtheraceitself.

Vettel,whohadqualifiedinsixthspot

onthegridatSilverstone,said:“Inthe

endit’smymistake.Obviouslyhewas

a bitfasterandclosingquitequickly

andpassedveryeasilybeforeTurn15.

Butthen[Verstappen]rana bitwide,so

I thoughtI couldsneakback.

“ButasI said,I thoughttherewasa

gapthatthenturnedouttonotbethere.

It’sa misjudgementfrommyside.”

Vettelventedhisfrustrationonthe

pits-to-carradio,butsaidthathehad

reappraisedthesituationaftera few

Above and left: Ferrari’s

Vettel locks up at Vale

and cannons into the

back of Verstappen’s

Red Bull-Honda

more laps of the circuit once he had

returned to action.

“Of course initially I thought that

there was a gap and the gap closed,

but after some laps I realised that it

was my mistake,” he added.

“So I went to Max and told him what

I thought. That to me counts more than

anything or any stewards decision, to

be honest.”

Horner’s anger

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said

that the crash robbed Verstappen of a

chance to finish on the podium, and

indeed he could have even risen to

second position given a late tyre stop for

second-placed Valtteri Bottas, who was

forced into a halt to swap compound.

Horner said: “That was very frustrating

and obviously it was remarkable the car

held together.

“To keep going with the damage he had,

that was quite incredible and at least he

managed to finish the race and get some

points out of it.

“It is frustrating because he had

obviously made a great pass on Seb and

I can only imagine that it was a complete

misjudgement by Seb to lock up and hit

him the way he did.”

Horner said his driver lost a nailed-on

podium, two weeks after his first win

of the season, regardless of which

place he would have ended up.

“Obviously from our perspective it

was very frustrating because it knocked

Max off a guaranteed podium,” said

Horner. “Which spot on the podium, we

don’t know what it would be. He would

certainly have been second on track, and

then whether Valtteri could catch him

or not we would have to wait and see.”

Christian

Horner

“Max could

have been

second”