Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto gives verdict after Spanish Grand Prix fume
Sebastian Vettel questioned Ferrari's in-race strategy during and after the Spanish Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel criticised by pundit over Ferrari performance
Sebastian Vettel's Spanish Grand Prix blast at his garage is not a sign of growing tension, claims Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. Vettel was unhappy during last Sunday's race when Ferrari gave him confusing tactics before deciding to follow through with their planned one-stop strategy.
The four-time F1 champion managed to come home in seventh at the Circuit de Catalunya and afterwards admitted he had been left mystified by calls to push and then manage his tyres from his garage.
Vettel has since insisted "nothing has changed" in terms of his relationship with Ferrari, despite the fact he's being shown the door later this year.
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And Binotto, who is feeling the heat with Ferrari now competing in the midfield, says all is well between team and driver.
"At least from our side, we are not changing any different type of tone or whatever," said Binotto. "So I’m quite surprised [by rumours of tension]. It’s not the case.
READ MORE: Mattia Binotto slams 'total nonsense' over Sebastian Vettel
"I think that communicating is important with the drivers. It is something that we decided together with the drivers that we should be open as we can.
"Sometimes questioning doesn’t mean that it's a misunderstanding. I think questioning ourselves by communicating is important finally to get the right choice.
"I felt that the last few races we made the right choice, sometimes lucky as Seb said but at least we came to the choice because we are communicating.
"To be open on the radio, when you’re in the midfield, sometimes it’s difficult but just making sure at least just by questioning, again, we make the proper decision."
Vettel said too much can be ready into apparent clashes on team radio, with TV coverage only featuring clips of full conversations.
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"I think we're obviously talking about [Ferrari's strategies] and we just had a brief chat," said Vettel. "There’s always things you can do better.
"I think it’s very easy to know a lot of things that you could have done or should have done but I think the important thing is that we agreed to take that risk and obviously it did play out.
"Where we were, I didn’t think we had much to lose. I think it’s normal to communicate. I think it’s very weird for you to judge because you don’t get all the radio transmissions.
"I think it’s very difficult for you to know what is being said and to get the full picture. I think it was nothing else outstanding today. It’s a lot about managing the tyre here and as I said we did the decision and we took to it."
Vettel and Ferrari will resume their 2020 F1 campaign later this month at the Belgian Grand Prix.
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