Mattia Binotto, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Binotto refuses to answers questions over Ferrari’s failed Canadian GP appeal

2019 French Grand Prix

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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto refused to explain the team’s request for a review of the penalty which cost Sebastian Vettel victory in the Canadian Grand Prix after the stewards ruled its submissions were not new, significant or relevant.

Binotto gave a brief statement ahead of his press briefing at the track today but would not elaborate when asked to explain any aspect of Ferrari’s protest attempt.

“Without commenting much on the decision I think that no doubt that as Ferrari we are all very unhappy and disappointed,” he said. “We are disappointed certainly for Ferrari but we are disappointed for the fans and for our sport. We do not intend to comment any further.”

Binotto added Ferrari now consider the matter “closed”.

Vettel was given a five-second time penalty for rejoining the track in an unsafe fashion in front of Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari submitted a request for the incident to be reviewed, which required them to demonstrate to the stewards they had “new elements” which were not considered when the original decision was made.

Prior to the hearing the team’s sporting director Laurent Mekies said they would present “overwhelming” new evidence demonstrating Vettel did not break the rules. However of the seven items Ferrari presented to the stewards, five were deemed not to be new, and the others were not considered relevant or significant to the matter.

Asked why the team’s confidence in its evidence was so clearly at odds with the stewards’ assessment of it, Binotto said: “We are certainly unhappy as I said. I do not want to comment.”

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26 comments on “Binotto refuses to answers questions over Ferrari’s failed Canadian GP appeal”

  1. But, but, but….we are FERRRRRRARI. This cannot be.

    1. Awww, this was their “overwhelming evidence” – Ferrari name/logo on car!

      1. Come on, they also had a face time clip of Vettel’s “OMG! I’m out of control!!” expression. Plus a downloaded YouTube video of someone’s shaky filming of a SkyTV pundit review on the living room TV, complete with blue tinge image, rubbish sound and zooming in and out. Ferrari really going full out to boost their professional image and credibility.

        1. @david-br

          Same can be said about the sport that was Formula 1.

          1. I really have nothing against them ‘burning the rule book’ and allowing ‘proper racing.’ But remember when Ferrari were calling every other race for Hamilton to be penalized for racing in 2008? And successfully. So enough of the blatant hypocrisy. Ferrari are more guilty than most of generating the current system. Just don’t switch the rules ‘mid-race’ because it suits you.

  2. It’s been reported elsewhere that Karun Chandhok’s analysis of the incident for Sky F1 is what Ferrari said was the overwhelming evidence.

    1. That sounds like a literal not the onion article

    2. @pking008 @f1osaurus I remember watching Karun’s analysis after the race and how he was trying to hammer home the fact that Vettel had “no control” coming back on to the track and I’m sat there thinking, “wait, you’re trying to argue that it shouldn’t have been penalty and the reasons you’re giving actually support the opposite argument”!

      And this is Ferrari’s ace in the hole? A Sky reporter who is inadvertently arguing against Ferrari??

      The Leclerc Monaco debacle was laughable, this is now beyond comprehensible.

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        22nd June 2019, 12:13

        @ninjenius Indeed. And then they blame Mercedes for making things boring. How about Ferrari/Vettel simply step up and perform at least decently on track. And/or give Leclerc a chance.

  3. Well, I suppose there isn’t much more he can comment unless he wants to veer into it becoming a bit uncomfortable. Still a bit odd (very Ferrari?) to have Mekies call it overwhelming, given what it was, but, let’s forget this bit of the events for the best of the sport I guess.

    1. @bosyber
      how about this for an “overwhelming” opinion?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9shj1rtGjg

      1. geoffgroom44 (@)
        22nd June 2019, 8:52

        Bravo. This is the best comment I have seen about the incident in Canada.I note the repetitive nature of the assertions ‘coming back in an unsafe manner’.
        Case closed!

      2. Well, Vettel is ‘consistent’ in saying he does not like these penalties, but, indeed, that opinion does show that ‘he does not help himself’ with his arguing (well put @geoffgroom44), doesn’t it @mysticus

    2. I think he is doing a very wise thing, judging by what the produced as “overwhelming evidence” Ferrari already have egg on their face and any comment he makes could easily be taken out of context by certain less scrupulous members of the media.

  4. I’m glad he didn’t comment. Their ‘overwhelming’ evidence was so nonsensical, that it got rejected by the FIA. They look like fools already.. so why make a silly comment to make things worse.

    1. Their golden boy Crashtel is still throwing a temper tantrum over this issue.

  5. F1oSaurus (@)
    21st June 2019, 20:43

    I can fully understand why he would want to sink into the earth right now. That “overwhelming” “evidence” was embarrassing beyond belief.

    They really thought Karun Chandhok’s opinion was going to save the day? Seriously?

    It does shed some light on why their whole racing strategy is so bad though. Not just for a single race, but their whole approach.

  6. Derek Edwards
    21st June 2019, 21:07

    Seems Chandhok might not have been aware that his “evidence” was being used…

    https://twitter.com/karunchandhok/status/1142088147175714817

    1. Wonder about copyrights there too then, would they even have cleared this with SkyF1 UK?

      Perhaps Sky should indeed send a bill, after all, they have been staunch defenders with their substantial public of the same (evidently ;) viewpoint Ferrari holds concerning this issue (and then a sentence ‘in the sports best interest, your clear copyright violation – I don’t think this can be fair use, as Ferrari definitely have a financial interest, though maybe ‘teaching’? – is not taken to court, but please note a warning for a possible next occurance.

  7. After that overwhelmingly ridiculous requirement, the matter should indeed be closed. It’s because things like that that Ferrari will keep losing, can’t do anything properly.

    However, the punishment remains absurd. Ultimately, VET got penalised because HAM had to hit the brakes. What a joke!

    Under the bridge now.

    1. Under the bridge nothing, stay alert for next time hamilton, or bottas really, does something like vettel and doesn’t get a penalty and force the fia to act fairly towards mercedes drivers compared to other drivers!

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        22nd June 2019, 12:22

        @esploratore Pffft are you kidding? Vettel keeps on pulling dirty tricks and crashes into other drivers without usually any penalty. They way he first rammed into Verstappen in Mexico 2017 and then in the back of Hamilton. No penalty. Or things like Monza 2018 and Suzukza 2018. He simply drives into other cars complaining that they should give him more space even though these other cars were in the lead and Vettel was the one who should leave space for the other car on track.

        It’s about time Vettel finally got a just penalty. Perhaps then he finally learns to play fair. Who knows he might even pick up a WDC if he keeps his car on track even when other cars are around him.

  8. If I were them, I’d be a little more worried about the potential for their new front wing to be deemed illegal.

    Seems to me they added an extra element (the winglet on the outside) to divert more air to an “outwash”

    End plates on all of the front wings for everyone seem to be getting more and more angle to them but adding an extra element I thought was actually outlawed under the 2019 regulations.

  9. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    22nd June 2019, 7:59

    Let it end. Even as a person who doesn’t like those kind of penalties and decisions, Lewis got the victory and it is over. Changing that 2 weeks after will only do damage.

Comments are closed.