Ferrari revealed the reason behind Sebastian Vettel’s botched pit stop during Sunday’s Emilia Romagna GP. It was stripped wheel nut that caused 13.1 seconds pit stop when German entered the pits for new Hard tyres.
Vettel drove exceptionally well in his first stint, he managed to complete 39 laps of 63 on medium starting tyres and he was running in P4 before calling into the pits. As Vettel stopped on his marks, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz – with whom Vettel was in a battle with for a net P10, and who’d eventually finish the race seventh – was just entering Rivazza 1. But a stripped wheel nut saw Vettel stationary for 13.1s, eventually emerging four places and 11 seconds down on Sainz in P14, and behind the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi.
After the race, while talking to media Vettel said, “I think the race today was a bit better for a couple of reasons. I was comfortable in the car… but obviously the poor pit stop didn’t help us. I’m sure the boys are down, but it wasn’t meant to be our race.”
Vettel felt he could have scored more than a point in the race without pit stop error,
“More than just a point. I think with the Safety Car in the end, we could have capitalised… we could have easily stayed on the hard [rather than pitting for softs], gained another couple of positions, but it wasn’t meant to be. With hindsight it’s always easy – we’ll see next race.”
Sebastian Vettel left with four-more races to finish his Ferrari career with a podium finish. Hopefully Formula 1 gods will smile at him before season ends.
