Binotto confirms Ferrari will not appeal Verstappen-Leclerc incident

Ferrari

Binotto confirms Ferrari will not appeal Verstappen-Leclerc incident

Mattia wants to move on.

Paul Macdonald

Sunday 30 June 2019 20:38 Updated: 20:50

Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto has confirmed that the team has no plan to appeal the FIA decision which found in favour of Max Verstappen retaining his Austrian Grand Prix victory.

The FIA's investigation into a coming together involving the Dutchman and Charles Leclerc with three laps to go was ultimately deemed to be a racing incident by the stewards, after nearly two hours of deliberation.

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Leclerc was clearly unhappy by Verstappen's actions and felt a penalty would have been fair, but in the wake of the FIA's announcement, Binotto confirmed to Italian media that the team had no intention of taking the matter any further.

He said: "We respect the decision, but it is wrong. Bravo Verstappen, but now we must turn the page.

"Ferrari's opinion and position - we still believe this is a wrong decision, that's our own opinion, we believe that Charles had no fault, a collision has happened and he has been pushed and forced off the track.

"We believe these are clear rules, which we may appreciate or not, and these are exactly the same rules which have been applied in past races.

"Having said that, we respect fully the decision of the stewards, they are the judge and we need to respect that, and more than that I think that as a Ferrari fan - and I'm an ultimate Ferrari fan - I think it's time for F1 to turn the page and to look ahead.

"As we often said, we should leave the drivers free to battle, so we may not be happy of the decision, we are not supporting the decision but somehow we understand the fact that we need to move forward, and overall I think that's good for the sport and good for F1."

Ferrari's decision comes just a few weeks after the protested heavily against a five-second penalty handed to Sebastian Vettel at the Canadian Grand Prix, a decision which handed victory to Lewis Hamilton.

Their 'new evidence' regarding Vettel's actions in that particular incident were hastily thrown out and the original race result was retained.