During Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, drivers Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean spoke about the track marshals over their team radios. And from the looks of it, their concerns lay on the fact that someone could have gotten hurt, owing to their proximity to the action.
Even before the drivers took to the track to race at Imola, the understanding was that an old-school circuit will have a few tricks up its sleeves. Especially where the FIA had announced lap time deletions, for exceeding track limits on some difficult turns.
However, safety concerns became a talking point when track marshals got sent out to clear debris from George Russell’s incident. Lance Stroll, running last, was unaware of their presence on the track and continued to race to join the back of the grid.
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Sebastian Vettel was among the first ones to notice the marshals on the track
Ferrari driver Vettel was the first to spot a potential danger on the track. And he immediately communicated his feelings over the team radio.
Vettel was heard saying, “Tell them to watch out, the marshals are on the track. That’s very, very dangerous. Tell the marshals to get out, out of the track.”
There was an attempt to clean up the debris after Williams’ Russell crashed into the side barriers during the safety car running. However, the marshal was on the track as Racing Point’s Stroll passed.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean also spoke about the same issue over his team radio. He said, “Ok, it’s a bit dangerous to leave marshals on.”
A weekend to forget for Vettel
Vettel has seemingly fallen out of favor with the motorsports gods; for what seems to have become a trend, Vettel endured yet another disappointing outing.
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Vettel’s pit crew passed the sentence on his race weekend in Imola as his stop lasted for almost 12-seconds. The mechanics just failed to bolt on the tires properly.
Had they put on the tires in time, Vettel could have exited the pit lane with a level of comfort. And quite possibly, continued racing in the P9 position, at the very least.
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But ultimately, he was forced to drive the rest of the race in P14. Despite the error, as a heartfelt gesture, he told the Ferrari pit crew to not worry about it, and even thanked the mechanics.
WATCH: Sebastian Vettel Thanks Ferrari Mechanics in Touching Team Radio After Botched Stop