It was a day packed with mixed emotions for Ferrari during the Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which saw Sebastian Vettel finish on the podium but then a penalty relegating him to fifth.
At first the Reds fumed as on track action between their Vettel and the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen got very heated, then there was jubilation as Vettel made it onto the podium thanks to a penalty handed out to Verstappen.
But shortly after jubilant celebrations on the most dramatic podium of the year, Vettel was handed a 10 seconds penalty for his tactics which relegated him to fifth.
Race stewards point to video footage and telemetry data showed that the Ferrari driver made his defensive move when both drivers were on the brakes, which breaches the new rule introduced at the United States Grand Prix.
Arrivabene said in a post race statement, “We fully deserved this podium, which was taken away by bureaucracy. The whole team had showed great stamina by staying united and focused in a difficult moment.”
“Our strategy had made it possible to make good progress through the race and both drivers did a very good job. Unfortunately, we were penalized by Stewards’ unappealable decision which, in my opinion, is too harsh and somehow unfair.”
Vettel was also unhappy with the outcome, “We were quicker, so we put Verstappen under pressure: for sure it was not easy to pass, but he did a mistake, cut the track and didn’t give the position back even if he was told to do so.”
“About the fight with Daniel: I respect him a lot, it is never ideal when you touch. On my defense, I was fighting hard, and trying to give him some space, which I think I did,” added the German.
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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