Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Interlagos, 2019

Ferrari summon drivers to Maranello again following Interlagos crash

2019 F1 season

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Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will explain the collision which put both Ferraris out of the Brazilian Grand Prix to team principal Mattia Binotto in a meeting at the team’s headquarters.

The pair collided on the 66th lap of yesterday’s race after Leclerc had passed Vettel for fourth place. Vettel was trying to retake the position when they made contact approaching turn four.

Binotto spoke briefly to both drivers following the crash. He said this was to remind them before they spoke to the media that “the only thing I would have been happy to hear is that they were sorry for the team.”

He will speak to both drivers at greater length at the team’s Maranello base after they have studied the data from the collision.

“I’ve not reviewed it yet,” said Binotto. “I don’t want to do it today. I think that when doing things in heat we may have the wrong conclusions.

“I heard both drivers but they will come as well, together with them, to discuss again what happened today. And there will be time for the team to analyse all the video and the data.

“Whatever will be the judgement, the more important thing is that today we are disappointed and sorry for the team. We are, but first the two drivers should be, sorry for the team because it has been a very small crash was big consequences. A silly thing that should not happen.”

Vettel and Leclerc were previously called to meetings at Maranello over the events of the Russian Grand Prix, where Vettel ignored repeated calls from the team to let Leclerc pass him. Afterwards Vettel admitted he had been wrong to defy the team’s orders.

The pair were cleared by the stewards in Brazil for the collision. Binotto was also unwilling to single out either of his drivers for blame.

“It’s a matter of recognising, eventually, what has been the actions and the mistakes,” he said. “And I think that whatever you are, a driver, an engineer, whatever you are doing, recognising mistakes is important because that can only make you better.

“So I think what would be important with both drivers is to understand what happened. Making sure that at least not in the heat, but when they will come all together in Maranello to understand what happened, what has been the mistake. It’s not me to blame them, it’s them to recognise it.”

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87 comments on “Ferrari summon drivers to Maranello again following Interlagos crash”

  1. Troop of Baboons will be better at getting job done compared to this team with so called “heritage and pride.”

    1. Tell us the story of your great accomplishments mate, I’m all ears

      1. He is collecting the other baboons as we speak, so just wait.

      2. Not much, currently working on developing Apps(awareness and datamining(based on programs I previously developed for fertilizer company)) to help mitigating snake bites in rural India. Also on weekends I help with collecting venom samples from medically significant animals(snakes, scorpions and spiders) for my friend’s project where he is studying venoms and developing new anti-venom for India.

        1. Chaitanya,

          so how would it feel if some calls your work that of a baboon, after all the hard work you have put in?

          Writing software is a joke when compared to building/running a F1 team (just think of the components that are involved, including software), even if it is a Williams F1 team.

    2. Not cool mate. Not cool. Respect people and you may get treated with respect yourself. What goes around comes around.

      1. That isn’t true. Personally speaking I treat others with the respect that they earn and would like to think it would always be reciprocated – but the old what goes around comes around is patently not true as many decent people always get the stinky end of the stick in life Andrew are 3 amongst a huge pantheon of horrendous beings that are walking free and living a privileged existence.

        1. for some reason that post edited out Hilary Clinton, Tony Blair & PRINCE (Andrew)

    3. Oh it’s the hate-Ferrari half-anonymous user. Good morning.

      1. Regardless, it is true that it’s always something with them.

        Whether its bogus strategy or driver errors, over the course of a season Ferrari just doesn’t get the job done. This has been the case for over a decade now and I don’t see how anyone could deny that.

  2. Totally Vettel’s fault. Just unnecessary aggression. Can’t help but feel the red mist descended when he got passed by Leclerc, and instead of just making a clean pass, he wanted to bully Charles at the same time.

    Will be interesting to see what comes out of Maranello. I thought Vettel had got his head together a bit after Monza, but obviously not. Maybe retirement is back on the cards?

    1. Yeah, it makes one wonder if he will ever get back his temperament for sensible racing (haters will say he never had it to begin with).

      In contrast, it was Max who was the calm one when he was cut off by Kubica, something that might have caused Vettel to go into another wheel-banging episode.

      Binotto ought to meet with his drivers on Tuesday, so that he spends today picking out a new driver for the future. Can he tempt Ricciardo away? It ought to be easy.

      1. You could argue that haters might be replaced with connaisseurs. Its not to diminish his accomplishments, its just something that has been there from the start in his persona. This with many other traits makes him the driver he is.

      2. haters will say he never had it to begin with

        Factual observations say that too. There’s plenty of examples of the Vettel red mist over the years.

    2. totally? no, it wasn’t totally vettel’s fault. just look at this onboard pic: http://www.kepfeltoltes.eu/images/2019/11/18/678Screenshot_2019_11_18_.jpg leclerc made a right movement on the steering wheel when his position was already lost. i don’t think it’s a coincidence that leclerc’s suspension broke as a result of the touch

      1. I think he’s just responding to buffeting once he gets in Vettel’s wake; immediately before that frame, you can see the wheel clear to the left, so I think he’s just correcting for it. The exterior shots make it clear that the direction of Leclerc’s car doesn’t change, while Vettel is moving over on Leclerc with plenty of track on his right side.

      2. You should consider changing your name to Another Seb :)) You just need to look at the video from the camera facing the straight to see who moved on whom. That Seb can’t get rid of the red mist doesn’t surprise me. But his fans should know better. Just another German multi-year F1 champion whose racing ethics diminish his legacy.
        100% Vettel’s fault. No spinning possible. Unless, of course, you are Seb. You spin a lot :)))))

      3. leclerc made a right movement on the steering wheel when his position was already lost

        Talk about cherry picking. Anyone with 3 brain cells can watch onboard of Leclercs steering wheel to see this individual frame for what it really is, utter garbage.

        Vettel moved across on his teammate and ruined both their races, its that simple.

    3. I tend to disagree, it was both their fault.
      Leclerc did the same thing and actually way more aggressive with Lando in the first laps, if Lando wouldn’t have moved they would have crashed. But in this case Leclerc didn’t want to budge at all.
      Any driver after going a bit off track like Vettel did, and then preparing for the next corner while overtaking another, will want/need to squeeze the interior a bit, it’s up to both drivers to be aware of that and avoid any touching, especially between team members. I would say that it was more Leclerc’s hardheadedness allowing this to happen.

      1. @terro

        Disagree. This wasn’t Leclerc’s fault at all. He stood his ground and kept his line straight. If Vettel couldn’t manage that corner without having his teammate to move, then he should have attempted the overtake on the inside line instead.

        To me, this was a carbon copy of Turkey 2010. Vettel managed to get alongside Webber and then just moved towards his teammate in an attempt to move Webber away from their racing line. Obviously, Vettel thought Webber was at fault at that incident.. the exact same way he thought Leclerc was to blame for this incident. In both cases, Vettel was clearly at fault. Just getting alongside another driver doesn’t mean you can start squeezing them or bullying them off their chosen line. I don’t when Vettel will learn from this … he’s thrown away enough races for Ferrari (Singapore 2017 comes to mind as well).

        Ferrari are just wasting their seat with Vettel. They can find a much more compliant number 2 driver in that seat.

        1. I agree with you entirely – to my eyes it was almost an identical lack of judgement from Vettel to the incident with Webber at Turkey 2010. On the subject of Turkey a losing that track as a venue was a shame as it is a fabulous circuit for racing

        2. Wasting their seat? They’ve the two most evenly matched drivers on the grid. And for all the praise Leclerc gets for his qualifying pace, Vettel outqualified him 9 times without being able to set a time in two other qualifying sessions. Ricciardo beat him way more easily.

          To be frank, I don’t think both of the Ferrari drivers are better than, say, Jenson Button or pre-incident Felipe Massa. They’re certainly no Rosberg or Verstappen and definitely no Alonso or Hamilton. If Ferrari were to replace Vettel in 2021, I feel it should be to find another number 1 driver.

          1. One of the silliest posts I’ve seen in a long time. Congrats!

          2. Evenly matched? I don’t see Leclerc spinning and crashing every alternate race weekend and throwing points away. Heck, if it wasn’t for Ferraris tactics, Vettel wouldn’t even have taken a single win this season…and he would have been trailing Leclerc from race 1 onwards if it wasn’t for team orders in the first 4 out of 5 races favouring Vettel.

        3. @todfod Just a couple of thoughts for the sake of discussion. I’m not trying to take all the blame away from SV here, nor even a lot of the blame, but I’m not convinced he was 100% at fault here, nor for Turkey 2010. That said, in both cases I would like to know SV’s opinion away from the heat of the moment. I tried googling for Seb’s opinion on Turkey 2010 from well past the incident, as in even years later, and wasn’t able to find anything with an admittedly fairly brief amount of time spent. Just wanted to see if Seb now has a different view from his immediate one.

          So this just to say, let’s hear Seb on the two incidents but away from the heat of the moment during which of course most drivers are going to claim innocence. Perhaps he doesn’t blame his teammates as much as it might appear? Just posing that question.

          But also, I don’t think we can say Turkey was entirely a carbon copy of yesterday, or visa versa. In Turkey, they were on different engine modes, with SV being on the quicker one, and MW the slower one, and they were concerned about LH right behind them. So there right away are some differences in the scenarios leading up to the respective incidents.

          In Turkey, while MW held his line steady eddy, he was accused by the team of squeezing Seb, and I think that has to mean that by holding his line, and by MW’s admission, he was keeping Seb on the dirty side of the track, as I say intentionally by his own admission. I just wonder if SV thought he had ‘permission’ (via the engine modes difference) from the team, and an expectation that MW would move right and not make it difficult, based on their different engine modes. In terms of team play, SV might have thought MW made it way too hard for him and therefore was to blame.

          Yesterday, I think CL could have moved left some more as he had already moved in reaction and then stopped moving when SV didn’t. SV was ahead of CL and I’m not saying that to claim SV owned the spot or anything, but just to say CL had a clear view of what SV was doing at all times when the contact was about to happen.

          In general I think it is pretty common practice for cars to try to move other cars off the preferred line. The nuances can be subtle and rarely are two incidents identical nor the drivers have the same mindset or reason for there split second decisions from one incident to the next. In these two cases were are talking about teammates, and we are talking about teammates in a close rivalry. We are talking about incidents at their most intense times of races and seasons. In no small way, we want these drivers to care that much and be that determined such that they create this excitement/controversy. The last thing I would want to see is a compliant #2 on any team. The MS/Ferrari era, and particularly Austria 02, is proof positive why we should never hope for that.

      2. @terro Swiping is something drivers have done, but do NOT do it to your own teammate.

      3. (@terro)
        Agreed, lec drove very aggressive again and I wad waiting for the moment he would crash. Again his emotions ruined his race.

        1. @erikje What?!

          Why are you so blatantly labeling LEC? Ddo you particularly dislike him or are you a Vettel fan trying to spin the narrative here? Something else? I don’t understand.

      4. Well some could say Vettel is still the same driver as he was back in ’10 when he and Webber had a similar accident. It’s strange that two times it has happen both of these occasions Vettel tangled with a team mate. Both of these situtations are hard to judge. But still it was Vettel again. But what I see now Vettel is Webber and Leclerc is becoming Vettel. But these things happen time to time in the heat of the moment.

    4. Why does Vettel always feel it’s necessary to give a little drift towards the cars he’s overtaking? It’s almost like he has a pathological need to not only overtake someone but also assert his “dominance” over them. It’s caught him out so many times now you’d think he’d learn.
      In this incident Leclerc was no doubt expecting it and could probably have avoided it (as Norris did when Leclerc pulled a similar move on him). However, as there was very little for Leclerc to lose at this point in the season he obviously thought it was worth allowing Vettel to crash into him – possibly so that Vettel doesn’t pull the same move on him again.

      1. I totally agree with your first paragraph.

      2. The drift to a vehicle you are overtaking is a phenomena which sometimes effects me, particularly with the biggest lorries. I am concentrating so hard on that other vehicle that it acts like a Star Wars tractor beam. Coupled with the slip stream effect on huge vehicles which can drag you in it makes for a dodgy situation if not careful. Now I know about it I can work to avoid it.

        I think this may happen to Vettel but at his level of driving it shouldn’t happen, he is not a plodding commuter motorist after all, is he?

        But it is a psychological issue that needs resolving if true.

  3. recognising mistakes is important because that can only make you better.

    Vettel should frame this and carry it with him to every race i suppose.

    1. Blaize Falconberger (@)
      18th November 2019, 10:26

      Vet is an old hand now and should have learnt his lessons a long time ago… I don’t feel he will ever truly learn. It’s how he is.

  4. What is so hard to understand here? It was a close race they were both jockeying for position. Vettel had it, Leclerc wanted it. They were both fighting for it and a Formula One car is rather fragile. This is no different than what happened between Max Verstappen and Danny Ricardo in Azerbaijan, 2018.

    1. I kind of disagree. It is a obvious from every angle that Vettel went left up until the moment he touched his teammate. This was not a provoked mistake, not the result of the context (i.e. not enough space available for both car, or the wings been de-vented), not even a situation where the car is hard to control. There was no reason for Vettel to do that, other than squeezing Leclerc on the left so he would be in a less favorable position for the following corner. Now I’m not saying Vettel wanted to touch, but either he misjudged again, or was high with testosterone and willing to show who was the boss. Both case, this was unecessary, especially with a teammate. And yes, Leclerc was right to hold his ground, only weak driver would have created more space (need to prepare for next year’s battle ;-)).

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        18th November 2019, 16:44

        Leclerc did something similar to Norris earlier in the race – Norris dived out of the way though. It’s Vettel’s fault but Leclerc took a risk squeezing his team mate like he did.

        1. This is why I am starting to like leclerc… he’s seen the BS verstappen has not only gotten away wit, but being praised as the next all time great for, and basically said ”ok, if that’s how you wanna play…”

          I can respect that. I was against the senna/verstappen checkers or wreckers win at all costs driving style… but the writing is on the wall! If you don’t like the new WWE era f1, blame the people who praised verstappen!

    2. I think this is really the result of unclear team management.

      The laps before the incident Vettel was pushing for an overtake and to me it looked like he dropped off a bit to save up his battery. In the process he let LEC come to close and the Frenchman needed no more to give it a go. From there anything can happen and it did.

      If Ferrari had a clear hierarchy this wouldn’t have happened, or at the very least, if management would have had any real sense of control over their drivers they would have issued a team order to not lose time with each other but both to chase Albon. They either didn’t give that order because they are incapable or they feared their drivers wouldn’t listen and they’d look like baffoons. Eitherway, to me underlying issue that leads to such things as we saw yesterday, is on the teammanagement.

      1. 100%.
        These things don’t “Just Happen”.

      2. Vettel has already shown, this year, he’ll ignore team orders that favour his team mate. So what’s the point of the team suggesting it to him again?

  5. I think they are bloody lucky Enzo is not still alive, I think the consequences would be a lot more permanent than just a dressing down. But anyway he isn’t so they will be chastised and given a comparative slap on the wrist.

    1. Even Marchionne is gone.

  6. I get a feeling that everyone’s finishing their season on a symbolic note. McLaren got their (phantom) podium after a year of great progress, Ferrari…well, you know.

  7. Well said, Mattia.
    Seb, you must crown it next year!
    Charles, another Sauber year would have been beneficial to teach your the lessons so painful to get otherwise…
    Kimi, I miss your team spirit, working with Seb!

    1. It should be vettel who goes to sauber for a year. He is still acting like an angsty teenager on track. Leclerc was going past but poor little seb just couldn’t handle it. He needs a reality check. He can’t expect to win every single small thing and have everything happen on track exactly like he wants. Questioning team orders, ignoring team orders, pretending to be stupid just to play time and now driving into his team mate once again using his signature istanbul-anaconda-slam move and taking both cars out of the race. He needs a reality check because he is driving for an f1 team but he pretends like it is his team.

      1. Dude, he was already back *in front* when they crashed. A pretty heavy-handed sign he shouldn’t just have accepted the pass by leclerc if you ask me.

    2. demote Vettel to Sauber

      1. Suggestion … drop the last two words.

        1. Ok even better, send Vettel into retirement
          :)

  8. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    18th November 2019, 9:51

    Due to the crash Vettel is out of the race for 3rd and Leclerc is 11 points behind Max.
    Abu Dhabi is not Ferrari’s best track but Leclerc must win the race if Max gets his usual top 6 finish, if Max retires Leclerc must still finish 4th of higher to beat Max to 3rd in the Championship.

    For sure Ferrari this season is CHAMPION in throwing points away.

    1. Oh, delicious. So Vettel has to be number two now….

  9. Even though I am upset about what happened yesterday, ok, let them do this in 2019.
    If they have their heads cleaned up for 2020, then they will do less harm to the team and themselves.

    And also, I hope that Binotto will talk to both of them together, not individually as I recall he probably did after the Russia incident.

    And I would order both of them to stand-up before the people from the factory, apologize and do a 1 hr Q&A with the factory employees – “Roast them” style.

  10. Who to blame? My view is that the stewards are largely to blame; they are just plain weak. They have allowed Vettel to get away with his childish behaviour both in this race and in previous races where his driving really has not been of the standard required of an F1 driver. He has a wealth of experience acquired over many years, but seems incapable of utilising it, and thinking clearly in the heat of an actual race, particularly when events are not going quite as he may have wanted or wished! The stewards apparently haven’t the guts to do what should have happened years ago, and it is a miracle nobody has been hurt as a result of his poor driving. I believe he has already accumulated penalty points on his racing licence; he should have had his licence revoked.

  11. Binotto has a very tough challenge on his hands. Ferrari have two drivers that are both extremely quick but both make errors from time to time. It is impossible to declare either of them the number one at the team. The future obviously belongs to Leclerc but I am also convinced that Vettel can still win another championship with the right car at his disposal.

    I believe that Ferrari will keep trying to micro-manage their drivers in 2020 but that will not always work so there will be lots to talk about after the races, which is good for F1.

  12. I might be wrong but , after every race I wonder how would Raikonen have coped with the whole season if he stayed with Ferrari – being either in Vettels ot Leclercs seat…. I have a feeling that the lack of this pressure would have benefited the team as a whole…

  13. First I think this was a clear case of Leclerc being on much faster tyres and quickly getting past. That’s when Ferrari should have said, OK, it’s over, no more racing. A bit like Mercedes when they let Bottas try to pass Hamilton at a restart but then told them to hold station. The risks of a collision just increase. Second, Vettel was clumsy and seemed to misjudge Leclerc’s exact position. Not any kind of novelty. But third, Leclerc after his earlier season battle with Verstappen is proving a very aggressive driver as he showed with Norris and in other races. He could have given his team mate Vettel a bit more room, though he had no obligation to. He chose not to, failing to factor in that Vettel is not the most adroit race out there. That’s a mistake on Leclerc’s part. You need to be aware who is trying to pass you and what their driving technique is like.

    1. I should add I’m happy Ferrari didn’t tell them to stop racing! I’m seeing it from their perspective. From a spectator perspective, non-Ferrari-fan kind, letting them race until they take each other out was excellent entertainment.

    2. First Leclerc only started being aggressive after racing with max and seeing how the stewards let max get away with it. Second Leclerc did a clean pass on Vettel, vettels ego couldn’t take it so he tried to squeeze Leclerc who had the inside line into the next corner

      1. @carlosmedrano I don’t disagree about Leclerc and Max, though he then drove beyond the limit against Hamilton at Monza (and got away with it). But he has undoubtedly adopted a hard style of racing, different say to Ricciardo’s usually smooth passing style. He didn’t leave Vettel much room and the outcome was the collision. It could have happened anyway – Vettel might have squeezed left still even given more room, highly possible. I’m just noting that Leclerc will end up colliding more by taking the KMAX-Aid rather than the Ricciardo Smoothies.

  14. demote Vettel to Sauber or retire him
    :)

  15. This is clearly Vettel’s fault and there is no discussion. He had room on the right and hit Charles.

  16. He said this was to remind them before they spoke to the media that “the only thing I would have been happy to hear…

    This stood out for me… how the team is telling drivers how to think and what to say. I am quite happy with the race yesterday however. Ferrari are letting their drivers race, despite numerous cases of drama resulting from it. As fans we should be happy, both drivers yesterday drove well and blaming isn’t really necessary. The touch was so marginal, and it was tire to tire which to me feels like in 70% of cases nothing happens. Why are we looking to blame someone here?

    1. Because their team is missing a 2, 3 finish and both lost chance at third spot in WDC.

      It was a small touch with huge consequence.

      1. @jureo who cares? only winners matter and its not Ferrari or their drivers.

    2. How did such a ‘marginal’ touch wreck Leclerc’s suspension? Ferrari are not known for making fragile race cars.

  17. I like Binotto’s approach to things and even though the results haven’t been there for the team this year, I feel that they’re turning a corner under his leadership and it will pay dividends in the future.

    Aside from that, I’m trying to figure out how I can mess up at my job so that I can be summoned to Maranello as well. It’s lovely there.

  18. Vettel still hasn’t grown up. He needs to admit fault here, however he’s been like this his whole career. He gets very hot headed, which in part has made him the champion he is but also unlikable at times.

    1. By the way, Hamilton in my eyes is absolutely going to join Ferrari in 2021. He wants to, Niki has gone and Toto showing less interest. Ferrari I’m certain would swap Vettel for Hamilton now.

      1. The odds of HAM going to Ferrari are minuscule.
        LeClerc is their future just as Max is RBR’s – he would be miles ahead of Vettel point wise if not for a broken engine and several suspicious strategy calls and pit miscues.
        HAM will retire at Merc. Remember – he has stated several times he is dedicated to Merc – after Red said no:)

  19. Let me take a wild guess and ferrari will blame both their drivers equally even though it was all on vettel. Ferrari are going to keep being bad until they break up with vettel

  20. “I’ve always said that I don’t want two roosters in the henhouse”

    So di Montezemolo knew what he was talking about.

  21. So, this is getting absurdly funny.
    At what point does Ferrari say enough. I mean calling them into the principals office and scolding them seems to not work.
    You have to set a precedence. Yes Vettel has had his success, but he is not the Vettel he used to be. Should Ferrari just make a statement and say enough and send him home. That way they can get a No. 1 and No 2. again by Giving Leclerc total No 1 status and bring in Hulkenberg for a year as No 2 while they figure out the future.
    It’s not like Ferrari never fired someone on the spot, so At least that way they can keep looking like they have things under control.

    1. yes they fired Alain Prost so they can fire him too
      :)

  22. We had a poll on our small site. 77% think its Vettel fault, 15% racing incident.

    Some people think Leclerc should move out of the way or what?

    In any case I would love to be a fly on a Maranello wall.

    1. At what point does a team tell their 30 million a year star athlete, to get a sports psychologist?

      1. When he starts costing them money?

  23. petebaldwin (@)
    18th November 2019, 16:41

    Leclerc squeezed Vettel a bit hard (for a team mate) and Vettel moved over too early. Both have a portion of the blame although the majority is on Vettel as he made the mistake.

    1. @petebaldwin Pretty much as I see it too. I’d be harder on SV if his moving left wasn’t as gradual, and if he wasn’t ahead and CL couldn’t see him fully and therefore his tending left towards him. CL could have done more to move out of the way, but I respect the racer in him that said ‘why should I?’ and Seb shouldn’t have assumed CL would just be compliant and keep moving over.

      1. Vettel probably got angry as well because there was an opportunity for both drivers to clear Albon the lap that the incident happened. Leclerc wasn’t playing the team game. Leclerc didn’t choose a defensive or offensive line instead drove in the middle of the track to block his teammate- which is fair racing but bad timing. Never the less it was foolish of Vettel to try to push him out of the way.

        I truly expect no one to take any lessons from this and anticipating something similar again next season. I don’t think this driver pairing is harmonious enough to win a championship. You can see why Redbull was playing hardball with Ricciardo’s contract- given same opportunity as Max, they could have been in the same situation today with last years line up.

    2. Leclerc squeezed Vettel?!? Think your watching in a mirror universe….

    3. Leclerc had nowhere to go but on the grass,
      like Lewis in Mexico remember who squeezed him ?
      Vettel needs a race ban maybe this will cool his head

  24. I think this was Vettel deliberately doing this, knowing Charles would get him anyway, and looking to teach the youngster a lesson. It’s a technique that Max has employed before, and now benefits from special treatment by all other drivers – who know that he will go into any 50-50 contest assuming it is 80-20 in his favour.
    Vettel quite clearly steered left after pulling ahead of Charles, there was no reason to do so as there was a long straight ahead. This is, to me, similar to the “he brake-tested me!” Vettel – Hamilton coming together at Baku 2017, and also quite similar to the coming together of Vettel and Kimi at the Singapore Grand Prix, also 2017.
    Sebastian does not do well under pressure, and I suspect that this is just part of his nature, it will never go away.

  25. Jonathan Edwards
    19th November 2019, 2:10

    There’s an analysis on YouTube, by someone calling himself “cranky yankee,” that argues the blame is predominantly on Vettel. In his analysis, he spots something he obviously missed while preparing his video, and tries to brush it off. Leclerc makes a tiny move to the right in the exact moment his front tire is in between Vettel’s front and rear tire. It’s plain as day, and only a blind person would, after watching it, state Leclerc doesn’t move right. Now, I have no clue how much play there is in an F1 steering wheel, but I doubt there’s much. Likewise, Vettel also was drifting left prematurely. Drifting, not violently swerving as some posters have suggested. That said, he should have made sure he was past before moving at all.

    I certainly agree with the racing incident verdict, and yet again question the sanity of many of those commenting on it.

  26. I have looked at the video clip several times and it looks to me as if Leclerc jinked a bit towards Vettel, perhaps as a start of a block or possibly because he looked in his mirrors and was surprised where Vettel was there. He corrected quickly but Vettel in his turn twitched away and then corrected but too much trying to get in position for the corner, and bingo, the end.

    They both have some responsibility but I wouldn’t like to apportion it. Perhaps weighted towards Vettel but Leclerc has some of the odour on him too.

  27. Johann du Plessis
    19th November 2019, 15:02

    Ferrari upgrade your engine. Name Leclerc driver no 1. Appoint Micky Sheumacher driver no 2. Take on 2020 with a strong race strategy which you adapt and change whether it’s calling for a change, in order to win and rule your drivers. Drivers respect your team plan Instructer and each other in the race. Fine clever planning, constant technology addaptability and improvment is called. It’s tough at the top. We appreciate racing.

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