Ferrari to have "private discussion" over Sainz Vegas F1 damage compensation

Sainz ran over a metal water valve cover that had come loose and destroyed the chassis, power unit and energy store of his SF-23.

A precedent for compensation was set after an incident at the 2017 Malaysian GP, where Romain Grosjean's Haas was badly damaged after the Frenchman struck a loose drain cover.

The US-owned team subsequently negotiated a financial settlement with the Sepang organisers.

Asked if Ferrari would seek compensation for the Vegas incident, Vasseur said: "This will be a private discussion that I will have with the stakeholders of this."

In effect, that means Liberty Media and F1, as the race is promoted in-house rather than by a local entity.

Vasseur stressed the crash also had an impact on Ferrari's budget cap spending, as extra costs will be incurred by the need to fly an extra spare chassis from Italy to Abu Dhabi next weekend as the Maranello crew has started to prepare it straight after the accident.

"There is no provision into the budget or cost cap, for excluding the crashes," said Vasseur. "For sure you have a lot of extra costs. The loom was damaged, the gearbox was damaged, the battery was damaged, the engine is dead.

"We have a lot of consequences on the financial side, on the sporting side, and even on the stock of spare parts, and on the budget side for sure it's not an easy one."

Vasseur indicated that he would also raise the subject of damage from similar incidents beyond the team's control being placed outside the cap: "There will be discussion. The decision, it's another thing."

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23

Vasseur also claimed that the marshals on the scene of the incident showed a yellow flag having seen the stray object on track, but the session was not red-flagged until a minute later, after Sainz had run over it and stropped.

"We'd have to discuss about the circumstances of the incident also," he said. "Because it's not just about the cover coming out, it's also for me that we had one minute between the yellow flag and the red flag.

"It means that when they put the yellow flag that they saw something on track. And they took one minute before they put the red flag. I think it's too much."

Pressed on the matter, he said: "The main issue for me on this case is that when you put the first yellow flag it means that you saw something, you don't put the yellow flag by anticipation.

"It means that the guy who put the yellow flag, and put the yellow flag also on my board, which is coming from the race control, it means that they saw something, and then they took one minute before they put the red flag, when it's the straight line, and you have a metallic part, and you are at 340 kph."

Esteban Ocon also damaged his Alpine F1 car chassis after the red flag had come out while returning to the pits.

Vasseur confirmed that teams received no message telling them that there was debris on the track: "No, they didn't speak at all. We didn't know the reason for the yellow flag."