Sebastian Vettel confident Ferrari has reliability under control
Sebastian Vettel insists he is not worried about Ferrari's reliability-plagued Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, as he believes his team has the situation "under control".
Vettel looked on course to bounce back from his disappointing retirement in Singapore and make a serious indent on Lewis Hamilton's championship lead in Sepang, until engine issues in FP3 and qualifying put his hopes of winning in Malaysia in jeopardy.
The Scuderia's hopes of pulling off a win on Sunday were all-but ended when Kimi Raikkonen's SF70H suffered a similar turbo failure that affected Vettel's car in qualifying on his way to the grid, preventing him from contesting the race from second on the grid.
Vettel was able to salvage fourth place in the race after completing a spirited recovery drive from the very back of the grid, highlighting the impressive pace Ferrari had at its disposal all weekend.
"I think we have it under control," Vettel said. "Obviously this weekend we did not. It's a shame that both of us compromised our weekend, me in qualifying, Kimi before the race. It's not ideal if you retire one car on Saturday and one on Sunday, so it's something we need to obviously understand."
The Italian outfit's double dose of engine trouble in Malaysia prompted a furious reaction from company president Sergio Marchionne, who has made a number of organisational changes to the team's engine department, suggesting youth and inexperience were behind the failures.
Despite losing further ground to Hamilton -- who extending his title lead to 34 points by finishing second -- Vettel is confident Ferrari can avoid similar reliability problems in the remaining five rounds.
"So far we had a pretty good record this year for reliability," he explained. "For sure you're always on the edge, but if you speak to other people it's the same. So I'm not too worried to be honest, but we need to get on top of the problems that we have."
Vettel faces an anxious wait to discover whether his gearbox suffered any damage in his bizzare collision with Williams' Lance Stroll after the chequered flag in Malaysia. A gearbox change ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix would incur a five-place grid penalty, however, reports from Italy on Tuesday suggest the German escaped gearbox damage after early analysis was completed at Ferrari's Maranello factory.
Author: Lewis Larkam, ESPN UK
Source: http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/20904442/sebastian-vettel-confident-ferrari-reliability-control
Vettel looked on course to bounce back from his disappointing retirement in Singapore and make a serious indent on Lewis Hamilton's championship lead in Sepang, until engine issues in FP3 and qualifying put his hopes of winning in Malaysia in jeopardy.
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| Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. Mark Thompson/Getty Images |
Vettel was able to salvage fourth place in the race after completing a spirited recovery drive from the very back of the grid, highlighting the impressive pace Ferrari had at its disposal all weekend.
"I think we have it under control," Vettel said. "Obviously this weekend we did not. It's a shame that both of us compromised our weekend, me in qualifying, Kimi before the race. It's not ideal if you retire one car on Saturday and one on Sunday, so it's something we need to obviously understand."
The Italian outfit's double dose of engine trouble in Malaysia prompted a furious reaction from company president Sergio Marchionne, who has made a number of organisational changes to the team's engine department, suggesting youth and inexperience were behind the failures.
Despite losing further ground to Hamilton -- who extending his title lead to 34 points by finishing second -- Vettel is confident Ferrari can avoid similar reliability problems in the remaining five rounds.
"So far we had a pretty good record this year for reliability," he explained. "For sure you're always on the edge, but if you speak to other people it's the same. So I'm not too worried to be honest, but we need to get on top of the problems that we have."
Vettel faces an anxious wait to discover whether his gearbox suffered any damage in his bizzare collision with Williams' Lance Stroll after the chequered flag in Malaysia. A gearbox change ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix would incur a five-place grid penalty, however, reports from Italy on Tuesday suggest the German escaped gearbox damage after early analysis was completed at Ferrari's Maranello factory.
Author: Lewis Larkam, ESPN UK
Source: http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/20904442/sebastian-vettel-confident-ferrari-reliability-control
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