Ferrari has promised to apologise for the behaviour of its team members in the wake of Sebastian Vettel’s Singapore Grand Prix victory.
The team was investigated following the race for “failing to follow the instructions of the relevant officials for the safe and orderly conduct of the event”, an infringement of the International Sporting Code.
The stewards noted they had “received a complaint from the secretary of the event on behalf of himself and the members of the security contingent at post-race parc ferme, that some members of Scuderia Ferrari failed to obey instructions of relevant officials and behaved in an inappropriate manner”.
After hearing from the Ferrari team manager as well as the event secretary and security head the stewards said “the team representative has offered to have the team principal send a written unconditional apology to those who were affected and to give an assurance that there will not be a recurrence.”
Formula One photographer Darren Heath accused the Ferrari team members of “appalling thug-like behaviour” in a series of Twitter posts. “The Ferrari mechanics pushed aside officials holding a barrier and then smashed into photographers at PF [parc ferme]”, he added.
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Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
20th September 2015, 17:21
Forza Ferrari!!!
medman
21st September 2015, 17:06
Wow. Act like you’ve been there before Ferrari. Show some class. If this had been Mercedes running around acting like fools, some of you in here would be all over them. Typical.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
20th September 2015, 17:28
Some people….
Bobby (@f1bobby)
20th September 2015, 17:34
Sorry, what did they do again?
Sounds like the usual F1, ‘Make a story out of something utterly mundane’ boulderdash to me.
Commentators were so stumped for excitement that they were talking about the lovely autumn leaves fluttering down onto the track.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
20th September 2015, 19:04
Not being British that’s what they done. From enthusiast staff to hooligans (ironic).
Dave (@)
20th September 2015, 19:34
Yes, by all means, slander a whole nation. Real classy.
gary
20th September 2015, 20:44
What was that about leaves???! They kept talking about LEAVES!
Bobby (@f1bobby)
20th September 2015, 21:11
Eh? Yes, as in plural of leaf. I think it was in the false hope that Vettel might slip up on them, Wacky Races style.
daniyyel (@oji)
20th September 2015, 21:22
“I am a leaf on the wind…” ? :)
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
20th September 2015, 17:43
“thug-like” lol
any footage?
William Jones (@williamjones)
20th September 2015, 20:07
You would imagine that if they behaved “thug like” in front of a bunch of professional sports photographers, there would already be photos circulating demonstrating this.
iAltair (@)
20th September 2015, 17:59
Thought it has something to do with the drivers.
Nixi (@nixi)
20th September 2015, 18:01
Keith had to find something negative about Ferrari, this is f1fanatic.co.uk after all!!!
Baron (@baron)
20th September 2015, 18:09
@ Nixi That’s a very silly comment….
Karthik Mohan
20th September 2015, 18:40
Keith moonlights as Darren Heath the photographer? Wow he must be such a busy man!
Dave (@)
20th September 2015, 19:18
Presumably he’s also moonlighting as the stewards who issued an official summons
Tiomkin
20th September 2015, 18:21
Come on, we all know that you are not allowed any form of public celebrations in F1. All celebrations are to held months later at a black tie dinner where only the elite are invited.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
20th September 2015, 18:35
Haha, well put.
Joe pistone (@)
20th September 2015, 18:27
Testosterone!!
Forza Ferrari!!
Spawinte (@spawinte)
20th September 2015, 18:28
Darren Heath is a pearl clutching Tory, like many of the “self made men” who depend on an F1 press pass for their living.
evered7 (@evered7)
20th September 2015, 18:44
Darren Heath was the one who posted some tweet about Ferrari being investigated after the Malaysia win. He deleted it later. Looks like Ferrari isn’t his favorite team on the grid :)
Thug like, because they pushed the barriers out of the way? Toughen up sir.
Dave (@)
20th September 2015, 19:11
The barriers are erected for safety reasons; if you really think it’s acceptable to push them out of the way, then you need to go away and think very carefully about why.
evered7 (@evered7)
20th September 2015, 19:39
If Heath cannot handle a bit of hustling, then he should probably stay in the stands.
Dave (@)
21st September 2015, 1:48
Yes, let’s ignore the fact that the barriers, which are there for safety reasons, were being pushed away. Instead, let’s hurl insults at someone who’s just trying to do their job.
evered7 (@evered7)
21st September 2015, 3:29
Asking him to toughen up is a insult? Photographers generally are used to this sort of hustle bustle. At least in main events where they have to mingle with the crowd or among themselves.
Agreed, the barrier was there but was it ‘Thug-like’ behavior as mentioned by him?
He has to be careful with his words as well else there are plenty I can think of to term his tweets.
Dave (@)
22nd September 2015, 1:09
Were you there? No. So you don’t know what happened outside of what has been reported.
Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
20th September 2015, 19:20
Pathetic, like the punishment to Hulkenberg. This F1 has become a polo game on eggs.
periwinkle (@shena)
20th September 2015, 19:38
Here’s a picture of the scene. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPXaOJWXAAATIV3.jpg:large
From the ESPN report: ‘A number of Ferrari team members were attempting to access parc ferme to celebrate Sebastian Vettel’s victory when they were held back at a security fence.’
It’d have been very unfortunate for them to miss the double podium ceremony though, they should’ve followed the instruction. But calling it ‘appalling thug-like behaviour’?
monobe
20th September 2015, 20:50
Blown out of proportion? Offended delicate sensibilities?
Dave (@)
21st September 2015, 1:49
Were you there? Have you seen video? No, and no. Which means you don’t have enough info to judge.
Fudge Ahmed (@)
20th September 2015, 20:55
Darren needs to grow a pair.
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
20th September 2015, 21:24
It’s Darren Heath. Who cares about Darren Heath?
He has some… interesting views if you read his social media postings. It’s like a walking talking Daily Mail.
Tom Davidson (@wacamo)
20th September 2015, 22:35
Well, I’m not weighing in on the Twitter posting, but you -might- want to check out some of his work. A body of beautiful work on F1 over a very long time. You should be -that good- at what you do…
manik56 (@manik56)
20th September 2015, 23:23
F1 should look at NASCAR and learn how to properly celebrate a win.
faulty (@faulty)
21st September 2015, 2:30
If they got heavily fined last time around, shouldn’t the FIA show some consistency and fine them again? At least for repeat offense. It’s a silly technicality, but it would do well for the FIA to show some consistency.