German Grand Prix – Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says that the entire team have been left ‘bitterly disappointed’ after two new technical problems.
Speaking after both of his drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were eliminated from qualifying before being able to fulfil their potential, Binotto explained the issues that hit the drivers.
Vettel was knocked out in Q1, ending up in P20, after a turbo related problem hit his SF90, while Charles Leclerc was knocked out of running in Q3 with a fuel supply issue.
“At the moment the entire team is bitterly disappointed.” said Binotto after the post mortem was completed at Ferrari on Saturday evening.
“We feel especially sorry for our drivers who were in with the chance of doing something special for the people back in the factory who are working so hard and for all our fans.”
Vettel ‘bitterly disappointed’ to be starting home race from P20
Explaining that the problems were completely alien to Ferrari’s 2019 season, he said: “We are now carrying out an in-depth analysis of what happened. What we do know is that they were two completely different problems, neither of which had ever occurred before. The first indications from Sebastian’s car lead us to believe it could be related to a component on the intercooler. The component is to the same specification as those used previously and it was fitted new. Charles had a problem with the fuel pump control unit.”
Acknowledging that Ferrari had looked on course to at least challenge for the front row, he said that he felt responsibility for the poor quality control at the team: “We have shown this weekend that our race pace is good, which makes it even more frustrating that we were not able to show what we could do in qualifying.”
“We are angry with ourselves and I myself feel responsible for what has happened. But I am also aware that we must react calmly and do our best tomorrow. That’s what we’re here to do.”
