Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto focused on moving forward after Charles Leclerc took out teammate Sebastian Vettel on Lap 1 of the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Monegasque immediately accepted blame for causing the collision at Turn 3, as an over-ambitious overtake attempt ended in disaster, causing race-ending damage to both cars.
“What happened today is clearly my fault, there’s nothing else to say. I take full responsibility,” he said.
“I made a mistake and apologising is not enough. We need to take every opportunity and today we could have had one because even though we might not have the performance to collect a lot of points at the moment, every single point is important and anything can happen in the race, as we saw last week.
A double disaster for Ferrari on Lap 1 of the Styrian Grand Prix ?
Vettel and Leclerc collide – and within minutes both are back in the garage#AustrianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/yMs3rvPfa8
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 12, 2020
“I was so eager to do well for the team and I thought I might be able to gain three or four places and I went for it, but in fact, the opportunity wasn’t there.
“It’s not easy for the whole team who worked hard to bring upgrades here. We are going through a difficult time and we don’t need this,” Leclerc added.
“I have apologised to the team and to Seb, who didn’t do anything wrong. I let everyone down today and I am very sorry. I will learn from this and come back stronger next time.”
Of course, last year Vettel and Leclerc famously collided during the Brazilian GP, when tensions were appearing to rise between the pair.
But when it comes to any ramifications from what happened on Sunday, the four-time world champion was clear.
“We are both mature enough to move on from this incident,” he said.
“It is very disappointing, but in my mindset, I am generally optimistic and at least I don’t have to wait long to be back in the car, so let’s hope that Hungary will be a better place for us.”
And that was a view shared by Binotto, who hoped Ferrari would use the negative moment now and turn it into a positive.
“It is painful, very painful, to see both our cars back in the garage after just a couple of laps, but incidents like this can always happen when you start in the middle of the pack and it’s pointless to apportion blame,” he claimed.
“It’s the worst possible end to a weekend that was already very disappointing. It’s true we took no real part in the race, but we can’t hide behind the collision that eliminated both cars.
“Instead, we must just get on with our work. Difficult moments can bring out the best in people and I’m sure that will be the case now.”
