A double hit from behind through Turns 2 and 3 from Red Bull Racing driver Daniil Kvyat, saw Sebastian Vettel end up in the barriers early on in the 2016 Russian Grand Prix.
The Russian hit the rear of the German under braking for Turn 2, before slamming into the back of the Scuderia Ferrari again going through Turn 3, causing Vettel to spin out and hit the barriers, rendering him unable to continue the race.
Kvyat took responsibility for the first touch, but stated that Vettel slowing down suddenly into Turn 3 had made it difficult for him to go anywhere else but into the back of the SF16-H.
Scuderia Ferrari Boss Maurizio Arrivabene believes however that his driver did nothing to deserve any blame being directed his way, speaking to motorsport.com the Italian also added, rather interestingly, that there was no need to check telemetry data to assess if there had been a problem with Vettel’s car.
“Of course he slowed down – what does he have to do, fly? And measuring the telemetry is not right, [because] we need to look at the situation,” said Arrivabene.
“I understand [the need] to be intelligent but we have to be smart sometimes. If we look at the images it is quite clear. Sebastian said to me that he [Kvyat] touched him one time, just a clip, and the second time was quite hard.
“Of course if you have a crash like this and you slow down, it doesn’t mean if you slow down that you have to hit him another time. We don’t need the telemetry to understand that.
“I promised all of you [media] the first time I was working here to be always transparent and honest. So last time in China I was not complaining about Kvyat, I said Kvyat has done his job. This time I think I cannot find any reason for what has happened.”
