Vettel breaks silence since Belgian GP outburst
Sebastian Vettel broke his silence on Tuesday – the first time he's spoken publicly following his outburst in the immediate aftermath of the Belgian GP – to say he stands united with Ferrari over its tyre strategy.
As investigations continue in to the exact cause of the four-time world champion's tyre failure on the penultimate lap, Vettel moved to dismiss any talk that Ferrari had taken risks by electing to do a one stop.
Vettel has not spoken since he left the track early on Sunday night, talking only briefly to television crews and skipping his usual media commitments.
There had been some suggestions that Vettel had questioned Ferrari's one-stop strategy choice, but he was adamant this is not the case.
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, he said: “Just to be clear: the team and I decided to work together for this strategy.
“I stand behind the team and the team is behind me. This makes us a team.
“The strategy was at no time a risky one. The team is not at fault.”
Vettel comments put the emphasis back on Pirelli to explain why his tyre failed after 28 laps of the Spa-Francorchamps track.
Ferrari: ‘our strategy was absolutely right’
Vettel's comments are in line with those of team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, who said that the one-stop strategy was his outfit's prime choice for the race.
It said that all its data pointed towards it being correct, and there had been no suggestions of it risking a tyre failure.
"When we do the strategy, the strategy was absolutely right – the one stop. I want to clear that up. When we do the strategy we do the data and the data is based on the strategy," said Arrivabene, speaking shortly after Vettel had criticised Pirelli.
"When you are one and a half laps [from the chequered flag] and you can see the third position and you are about to lose it suddenly, of course you are disappointed.
"But I tell you normally, the strategy – even if it is aggressive, it is based on clear data that you have. You are not so stupid or so crazy to take a risk for the driver if you are not reading quite well the data.
"Don't worry. Our job was done."
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