The Ferrari Formula 1 team will have to “lift the spirits” of Sebastian Vettel in the wake of his nightmare Italian Grand Prix, according to CEO Louis Camilleri.
While teammate Charles Leclerc converted pole position into Ferrari’s first victory in Italy since 2010, Vettel endured a miserable race at Monza after spinning by himself at the Ascari chicane on Lap 6 while running in fourth place.
The German then collected Lance Stroll’s Racing Point in his hurry to rejoin the circuit and was hit with a 10-second stop-go time penalty for causing a collision as he returned to the track.
“Seb, we’re going to have to lift his spirits,” Camilleri told Sky Sports. – “They [the drivers] are equal. We started the season like that, things develop over time but I don’t like the fact that people try to write off Seb. He’s an amazing driver and I have every confidence that Seb is going to come back.”
Vettel is now just one major penalty away from getting a one-race ban after receiving three penalty points on his licence for the incident with Stroll.
The German must get through the next three events in Singapore Russia and Japan without drama to avoid collecting 12 points on his licence in the current 12-month period before the slate is wiped clean on October 19.
“I made a mistake and lost the car,” Sebastian Vettel explained – “After that, the race was a bit different. Coming back, I knew that there would be a gap, but I struggled a little bit to get out, I think I was stuck on the grass. I lost a bit of momentum there, that took a little bit longer. Certainly not ideal, but I think looking to the left, it is compromised because we have the high cockpit. I don’t think it’s an option to drop that. “When I spun, I was looking the other way, I thought there was quite a bit of a gap. But obviously then you don’t start counting, there will be cars coming. Originally, I thought it would be much quicker re-joining.”
Camilleri also praised the performance of Leclerc as he fended off a two-pronged Mercedes attack from Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to claim a second consecutive victory for the Scuderia in 2019.
“Obviously it feels amazing,” he said. – I’m so happy for the whole team, for the fans. To win here after nine years, it’s very emotional and I think it rewards a lot of work that’s been done internally.”
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