24/11/2019
NEWS STORY
As if he doesn't have enough on his plate, what with the continuing technical directives from the FIA relating to his team's power unit, ahead of the season finale, Ferrari team boss has had to hold 'clear the air' talks with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc following their clash during last week's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Though there no cheesy photo-ops, like that which followed similar 'clear the air talks' between Vettel and Mark Webber when they were teammates at Red Bull, the Maranello outfit insists that the matter has been dealt with.
"Since last Sunday, Mattia and the drivers have spoken every day, as they would normally do anyway," said a spokesperson for the team. "There was no official summit nor video conference.
"'The air is now fully cleared and we are focusing on Abu Dhabi," they added.
The Interlagos clash, which meant the Italian team's first double DNF of the year, was the culmination of a situation that has been building for much of the season, indeed many are amazed it didn't happen earlier.
"We are disappointed and sorry for the team," admitted Binotto in the moments after Sunday's race. "First and foremost, the two drivers should be sorry for the team.
"It has been a very small crash with a big consequence," he added, "but still that sort of thing should not happen. The fact that it happened today, I would say it is even lucky it happened this season because there will be opportunities to clarify, in view of next year, what is not allowed to happen. So I'm happy to take this opportunity of what happened, to clarify for the future. Certainly we need to improve that for the future and that is not to happen anymore."
Asked if the team had been wrong in not acting sooner in terms of team orders, especially when racing one another, he said: "It's not a matter of fining them or blaming them. I think that today they were free to fight, we let them race and the reason for that is that we have the second place in the constructors' sewn up, so they were only battling for their position in the drivers' championship.
"But free to fight does not mean to do silly actions, especially between the two teammates and the two Ferraris. For me today, it was simply a silly action."