Sebastian Vettel’s chances of taking Ferrari’s first race victory were immediately crushed when he was struck my Daniil Kvyat twice. Vettel has said that he doesn’t dislike Kvyat, but he still feels that he was at fault both in Russia and in China.
A frustrated Sebastian Vettel described the incident that occurred on the first lap of the Russian Grand Prix:
“I was going into second corner, I was already attacking and approaching fifth place, but it doesn’t help when people behind don’t brake. What Kvyat did was completely unnecessary. I had a massive hit from behind, then another big hit in turn 3 and that finished my race. As far as I know, the race is 53 laps, but not everybody seems to remember. I don’t think I need to say much, I think if you look at the footage you’ll have the answers to your questions. Today it was not my fault, there was nothing I could have done differently, nothing I would change. I don’t dislike him [Kvyat], but I think he did a mistake two weeks ago, he made a mistake today but it doesn’t help me now. Obviously I would have loved to drive the car today to feel if we could keep the same balance into the race, but for the future nothing has changed. Of course I’m disappointed but we’re already focused on the next race.”
When Vettel was struck by Kvyat in the third turn, his car spun and suffered a hard impact into the outside wall. The entire front wing was destroyed and so was his front-right suspension. Vettel was very angry on the team radio, broadcasting a rant filled with multiple expletives. He was nice enough to clean some of the debris for the marshals and even opted to drive the recovery motorbike back to the pits. Kvyat was given the highest level penalty that the FIA can give drivers, a ten second stop-and-go penalty.
Vettel’s issues with Kvyat extend beyond Russia, as the pair had a run in at the Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel believes that Kvyat sped on the inside of the first corner and forced his Ferrari to go wide and collide with his teammate. Vettel was able to recover and get on the podium, but Kimi Räikkönen suffered the most from the accident.
Although he still believes that he wasn’t at fault for the Chinese accident, he explains that this accident was a mistake and that he is sorry for Vettel:
“There was a lot going on at the start and I didn’t expect to slow down as much, I locked the rear wheels and the car was a bit out of control which caused the contact with Sebastian. On Turn 3, I couldn’t see what was happening ahead, Sebastian seemed to slow down and unfortunately I didn’t have time to react and this caused the second contact. I’m sorry for Sebastian and also to the team as we gave away a lot of points today from both my side and Daniel’s. It doesn’t feel great, this is probably the messiest first lap of my career.”
The accident also impacted Daniel Ricciardo’s day because he was damaged from the crash and it prevented him from scoring points. Vettel had a discussion with his former team boss, Christian Horner, on the pit wall. The Red Bull team principal later apologized to Vettel on behalf of Kvyat. “Dany hasn’t been involved in an incident like this before and I am sure he will learn from it,” he explained after the race. “Apologies to Sebastian as well, it’s not the race any of us wanted.”
No Love Lost Between Vettel And Kvyat
Weekend Summary: 2016 Russian Grand Prix
Nightmare For Ferrari In China
