Sebastian Vettel says he calculated the risks of going into Turn 15 of the Baku City Circuit and therefore decided to crash deliberately.
Sebastian Vettel hit the barriers going into Turn 15 of the Baku City Circuit in Q2 before placing himself in the top 10.
However, he explained that he calculated the risks of going into the tricky corner and decided to crash in order to prevent any major damage. It was of course a big brain time for the German as he saved up $141,000 of expenditure for his team.
Having seen his teammate Lance Stroll’s crash in Q1, Vettel managed to cause damage to his front wing only knowing they have a spare.
Vettel finished the qualifying with a P9. Meanwhile, his teammate who got eliminated in Q1 is set to start the race tomorrow from P19.
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Sebastian Vettel takes a dig at his teammate
Speaking after the qualifying in Baku, the German joked that at least he managed to crash wisely. He damaged a part that could easily be replaced.
Explaining his crash, Vettel said, “Here you have so many big stops. You know if you get the timing right it just flows. If you don’t, it’s either too early or you’re looking at not a good prospect like I had once in a moment at [Turn] 15.
“So then I was thinking ‘can I make it? Yes’. And then I realised ‘no’. I was like ‘okay if I go to the right, I might clip the left side because I still have a bit of speed’. So then it’s better to head on because we have a spare wing. So it worked. At least I managed to crash wisely.”
Vettel was quite satisfied with his qualifying performance at the Azerbaijan GP after a rough start to the 2022 season.
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