General
Binotto about sending Vettel away: "He's still not happy about it"
It was one of the surprises during the forced stop by the coronavirus. Sebastian Vettel has to leave Ferrari after 2020. At the beginning, it seemed like it was a decision made by the team and Vettel, but the German indicated last Thursday that it was a decision made by the team, which, moreover, came rather unexpectedly. Mattia Binotto now gives more clarity about the decision of the Italian team.
"Certainly we have always said to him during the wintertime privately and publicly that he would have been our first choice, which I confirm. It's normal that during the wintertime many drivers ask us if there are any opportunities to drive for Ferrari, so we have certainly been contacted. That didn't change our position, so Seb was our first choice," Binotto said in the online press conference, where Motorsport.com was present.
Corona crisis changed everything
"What happened since then? I think the virus and pandemic situation, which changed the entire world, not only our motorsport, our F1. The budget cap has been changed by quite a lot and is a lot more strict, the regulations have been postponed from '21 to '22, which somehow was something important for us." So Binotto indicates that the changing situation changed a lot".
"And on top of that the season has not started, so there has been no opportunity even for Seb to be back on track to prove how much he was really motivated to drive for Ferrari, which has been somehow unfortunate for him. So during the shutdown as Ferrari, we had to eventually reconsider our position. We took a decision, so certainly that was our decision, that is our responsibility, and we communicated to him. I heard that he was surprised – I remember that he was surprised, yes certainly, I understand it, it's pretty normal to be surprised," concludes Binotto.
Meanwhile, Ferrari with Vettel and Charles Leclerc is still working on the second free practice, which can be followed live here.