Caterham F1 baffled by Kobayashi DNF comments
Kobayashi inserted foot in mouth |
Caterham F1 team principal Manfredi Ravetto has expressed his confusion over comments made by his driver Kamui Kobayashi during the Russian Grand Prix after he was forced to retire with braking issues.
The Japanese driver exited the race early on in Sochi, with the team insisting he was asked to park the car on the grounds of safety after developing an issue with the brakes.
However, Kobayashi's comments after the race suggested he wasn't sure why he was asked to stop the car, the 28-year-old giving the impression he was ordered to pull over by the team in order to save mileage.
In response, Ravetto admits he was surprised by the insinuation, insisting there were issues with the brakes that forced to team to put its driver's safety first.
"I was very surprised to hear Kamui referring to some mileage-saving instruction coming from the team's management: we saw via telemetry that there was a potential issue with the brakes and we decided to avoid any risks.
"Kamui officially confirmed this as well and I'd like to add that he had also asked us to change the previous set before qualifying because he felt some vibration. To be clear: yes, we instructed Kamui to retire because the safety of our drivers is our first concern!
"Regarding Kamui's comment, all I can say is that the team has continuously made progress since the British Grand Prix, we've managed to qualify very well in the last two races, getting very close to Q2, and in Suzuka we repaired Kamui's heavily damaged car in time for the next session without any problems, so I cannot understand his comment."
Kobayashi's future with the Caterham team has remained uncertain since he was dropped for the Belgian Grand Prix in favor of Andre Lotterer, though he has since competed in each event since. crash.net