Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Arrivabene dismisses Kvyat's crash reasons

Maurizio Arrivabene says the fact Sebastian Vettel slowed in Turn 3 is no excuse for the contact from Daniil Kvyat which ended the Ferrari driver's race.

Kvyat hit Vettel going in to Turn 2 on the opening lap of the Russian Grand Prix, with Vettel then making contact with Daniel Ricciardo. The Ferrari driver lifted in Turn 3 fearing he had damage to his car and Kvyat said he couldn't avoid Vettel as a result.

When it was put to Arrivabene that Kvyat claimed Vettel had slowed, the Ferrari team principal replied: "Of course, he hit him! What does he have to do, fly?"

And Arrivabene says it makes no difference if Vettel had damage on his car or not following the first collision.

"Mentioning the telemetry I think is not the right way to look at the situation. I understand to be intelligent but we have to be smart sometimes, if you look at the images it’s quite clear.

"Sebastian said he touched him one time at the beginning and then the second time was quite hard. Of course, if you have a crash like this you slow down. That doesn’t mean because you slow down that you have to hit him another time! We don’t need the telemetry to understand that.

"I promised to all of you since the first time I started working here to be transparent and honest. Last time, in China, I was not complaining about Kvyat. I said Kvyat had done his job. This time I can’t find any reason for what’s happened."

REPORT: Rosberg eases to win after Kvyat takes out Vettel

AS IT HAPPENED: 2016 Russian 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.