Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Vettel takes full responsibility for crash

Sebastian Vettel takes full responsibility for the crash which eliminated him from the Mexican Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver was attempting to recover through the field after suffering a first lap puncture in contact with Daniel Ricciardo when he hit the barrier at Turn 7. Vettel had previously spun at the same corner and he says both incidents where his own error.

“It was my mistake," Vettel said. "I don’t know, I didn’t have any issues all weekend but twice in the race I went off. Once I spun and then I managed to crash. I can’t be happy with how the day went. Obviously with the puncture in the first lap the race was pretty much lost. Without any Safety Car I couldn’t really come back.

"The car was gerenally good to drive, the pace was very strong but, unfortunately we were not in a position to prove that. I think we were closer to Mercedes than in the last races but in the end we didn’t see the chequered flag, so it was not a good day.

"I also saw the replay of my crash, because I wanted to understand it, but there was nothing wrong with the car. I went in with more or less the same speed as usual but lost the car suddenly. It was similar to the first time I lost control. We know it has been tricky all weekend but cannot blame the conditions or the circuit. In the end it was my mistake, probably just asking a bit too much and once you lose the grip, depending on where it happens, it can be very costly."

And Vettel also says he has changed his mind regarding the collision with Ricciardo at the start of the race having blamed his former team-mate at the time.

"I’ve seen the accident at the start on TV. Initially I was pretty angry because I had a puncture and the race was lost, but having seen it, given it was the start of the race I think it was correct not to take any action. I don’t think Dani had anywhere to good, but, equally, he was trying but there was no gap there.

"It’s a difficult judgement to make, I saw him at the last second and moved over to give him more room but it was too late, as he was too quick for the line he was trying to take. We touched, but you cannot give anyone a penalty for something like that because no one does that on purpose. I’m not blaming him but it was a shame for us."

REPORT: Rosberg holds off Hamilton in Mexican GP as Vettel crashes

AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.