Bahrain GP : Post-race reaction from Vettel, Leclerc and Binotto

It was a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix for Drivers, Formula 1 teams and everyone involved with Motor Sports after a horrifying accident involving Haas F1 team driver Romain Grosjean. The French man’s car broke into two pieces before piercing through the metal barrier and caught fire. Luckily he escaped the incident without any major injuries.

For Ferrari it’s a tough race in many ways, as predicted SF1000 struggled at at the Sakhir circuit for speed, team just managed to pick-up only one championship point. Charles Leclerc finished the race in P10 while his teammate Sebastian Vettel comes home in P13.

Ferrari’s dream of finishing P3 in the constructor championship battle dealt with big blow. Disappointing race end leaves Ferrari in P6 in the Constructors standings with 131 points, while their rivals scored handsome points to build the gap. Charles Leclerc dropped to P6 in the Drivers Championship standings with 98 total points, while Sebastian Vettel stays in P13 with 33 points.

As the Formula 1 World Championship stays in Bahrain for next weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix which takes place at the same circuit, but on a different track layout, the Outer Track, Ferrari gets another chance to validate their car performance keeping 2021 season in mind.

Charles Leclerc (P10)

“After Romain’s crash, I was feeling very bad. It was probably the first time I have felt like this during a race, because I was trying to keep someone behind me and so I saw what happened in my rear view mirrors and when I got to turn 9 I saw the flames, so I was worrying and waiting for news about Romain. I was extremely happy when they told me he was ok, after what seemed like a very long time. Well done to everyone who works on making our cars safe. It’s impressive to see what an incredible job they’ve done! Once I knew Romain was ok I focused on the race again.

It was a difficult one for us today, as we were really not quick enough.  I had a very good start but unfortunately after that it was all uphill. P10 was the best we could achieve today. We have two more GPs ahead of us now and we’ll try to get the most out of them.”

Sebastian Vettel (P13)

“Maybe the only good news of today is the one I received on the radio, confirming to me that Romain was ok. When we stopped in the pitlane and I jumped out of the car I saw the images and it was incredible how he was able to get out of his car. I have to admit I tried not to look at the images too much.

Talking about my race, the first stint was very bad, I didn’t have the pace and I lost quite a lot of ground. The situation improved as the race went on and in free air in the end it was not that bad but all in all it was definitely a difficult race.”

Mattia Binotto Team Principal

”The outcome of today’s race is secondary to the relief we felt when Romain Grosjean got out of his car after that terrifying accident. The fact that he suffered only minor injuries is a testament to the amazing job done by the FIA in terms of safety and the courage and professionalism of all those involved on that front at a Grand Prix. But for the progress made in recent years and above all the introduction of the halo, we might have been commenting on a tragedy. 

As for our race, it was disappointing, but we had seen right from Friday that we would struggle this weekend. Now we have a few days in which to analyse all the data carefully and see how we can improve the car’s handling for next weekend. As we stay in Sakhir, the track conditions and temperatures should be the same, but we will be racing on a different layout for the very first time, which could present us with an opportunity. It will be up to us to grasp it and to do better than we did today.”

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