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Ex-F1 boss: Credibility of F1 must be safeguarded

Ex-F1 boss: "Credibility of F1 must be safeguarded"

15-06-2019 15:41
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Jake Williams-Smith

Ex-Formula 1 boss Giancarlo Minardi says the credibility of Formula 1 must not be lost. The calls come after Sebastian Vettel's controversial five-second time penalty during the Canadian Grand Prix

Minardi, who gave his name to the popular Italian minnow team back in the 1980s to early 2000s, insisted that Formula 1 must not lose sight of what makes it so great.

Speaking on his official website, Minardi called for to be done to preserve the spirit of F1 rather than apply rules to the letter in spite of true aims of the regulations.

"The stewards followed what the regulations say, but I am still of the idea that in that predicament Vettel could not have done anything else, just as nearly all his colleagues have confirmed, including Hamilton, the sole exception was Nico Rosberg," Minardi reasoned.

"In the light of what happened the regulations must be reviewed to protect safety without eliminating the melee which is this sport’s true DNA and also because I do not understand why the very dangerous episode between Ricciardo and Hulkenberg was not penalized.

"Up to the 48th lap we had been watching a great battle between two champions who had created a void behind them and it is a pity that the second part of the grand prix was conditioned by a single very questionable episode."

Minardi also added that a different penalty could have been postponed until after the race in order to fully analyse all of the data they had available to them.

"Rather than immediately giving Vettel a 5” penalty, the stewards could have postponed the decision to analyze the telemetry of the two cars once the engines had been turned off and to watch the video and then inflict a penalty on the Ferrari driver in the French Grand Prix.

"The spectacle and credibility of F1 and Motorsport must be protected. Specifically, this episode tarnished an extremely competitive race and there is also an aspect that continues to leave me amazed."

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