Sainz’s car was badly damaged after driving over a water valve cover at the start of the first practice session.
The team had to rebuild the car around the replacement chassis and also replace the power unit and gearbox.
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, one of the damaged parts was the energy storage unit, and when he took a third example this season, he automatically triggered a grid penalty.
Vasseur tried to argue to the stewards that this was a case of force majeure, but to no avail.
“Sure, I went there and talked to them,” he said when asked if he tried to get a waiver. “It’s a strange feeling for us because, firstly, I don’t think we did anything wrong.
“We have to pay a mega price for this. And on top of that there is the penalty knowing that we are fighting for the championship and ten places is a huge success.”
“OK, we have to try not to think about it in order to do the job so we can come back. We have a good pace, we have to concentrate on qualifying and then deliver a good race. We can do this.” “I don’t have time to discuss this.”
Asked whether the other teams could have supported his case, he said: “I don’t think it could be a decision by the teams to say we allow them to do this or that. Now tomorrow, if someone pushes the other in.” Direction, that’s a different story.
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Like Alpine with Esteban Ocon’s damaged car, the team had no problem getting around the rule limiting a driver to using one chassis per day.
“That was a good joke too,” said Vasseur. “You are not allowed to change your chassis during the day. But they told us you’re past midnight, which means it’s not the same day!”
Vasseur stressed that rebuilding between sessions was made possible by the two and a half hour delay to the start of FP2.
“We’re not trying to keep a record on this,” he said. “But it was definitely a big problem because we had to replace the chassis, engine, battery and gearbox to build a new one. The mechanics did a good job.”
Also read:
On the positive side, Charles Leclerc led the FP2 session for Ferrari while Sainz finished second.
“We know it’s a bit like Monaco or Baku, it’s a long weekend and we have to increase the performance over the weekend,” Vasseur said. “It’s not just about being fast in P1, it’s also better to be fast in P1.”
“We know it’s going to be about grit, but so far it’s so good. The track will improve much more than a normal track, which means you have to predict what the status track will be for Saturday.”