"It is good that we have no fans" - Vettel after Ferrari double DNF

Italian Grand Prix

"It is good that we have no fans" - Vettel after Ferrari double DNF

Both Ferrari had dropped out before the halfway point to compound a miserable home race for the Scuderia

Ewan Gale

Sunday 6 September 2020 19:06

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Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel admitted it was "good that we had no fans" at the Italian Grand Prix after a double non-finish compounded the team's 2020 misery.

Vettel retired early on in the race with a brake failure, having made no progress from 17th on the grid.

Monza is traditionally swamped with hundreds of thousands of die-hard Ferrari fans - the Tifosi - but Vettel believes the pain the team suffered this weekend meant the absence of fans was a good thing.

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"It is very difficult for us at the moment for sure, for the whole team," he told Sky Sports F1.

"We are in that position and we need to try and do the best we can to have a worthy ending of the season.

"We still have lots of races ahead of us, a lot of stuff to pick up and understand. There is plenty of work and we have to be focused on that. Obviously, if I could choose, I do not want to be here, I want to be in the car on the track and not at the back of the field but at the front.

"Sometimes you don't get to choose and you have to deal with what you have and at the moment it is what it is. We have to keep our heads up even if it is difficult.

"This year is very different. I think in that regard, it is good that we have no fans."

Charles Leclerc was one of the first drivers to make a pit stop and profited when Kevin Magnussen brought out the safety car.

But whilst running in the top five after the restart, Leclerc crashed heavily at the high-speed Parabolica corner, causing the race to be temporarily stopped.

Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 he took full responsibility for the incident.

"I just lost the car," he said.

"It was my fault. It was a very difficult race, to be honest. I struggled quite a lot on the first set, then I thought we were unlucky with the safety car but with the pit lane closed, we were actually pretty lucky. Then with the hard tyres, I struggled massively so I tried to push but I lost it in Parabolica and crashed."

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