Vettel Not Dwelling on Singapore Crash

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

Just two weeks removed from crashing out in Singapore, Sebastian Vettel insisted he is only focused on this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver looked primed for a solid points haul after starting on pole for the Singapore Grand Prix, but was part of an opening lap melee at the start-line with teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

That incident was magnified after championship leader Lewis Hamilton went on to win the race, leaving the 30-year-old German 28 points behind with just six events remaining.

However, at Thursday’s press conference leading up to this Sunday’s race at Sepang International Circuit, the four-time World Champion showed that he had already moved past the accident.

“I think it would have been more difficult if I had lost the car somewhere in the race and it’s obviously different, but with collision at the start like that, I think we all three after the race, that was when we had to go to the stewards,” said Vettel.

“What can you do? The lights went off. Obviously, we did our starts, everyone was trying to move at the start and it was the way it happened. It ended up really bad for all three of us and that was it.

“Obviously I could continue a little bit more, but the damage was so bad that I had to stop anyway. Not much you can do — I think it’s part of racing. It’s also not the first time I’ve been in a situation like this and probably it will not be the last time.

“Hopefully it won’t happen again, but it’s part of racing. It happened, there’s not much you can do, and therefore not much point in trying to look at it again and again.

“I think it’s much better if your time and energy is spent looking forward.”