By IANS
London : Ferrari’s Formula One team boss Jean Todt has slammed the world motorsport governing body FIA’s communication problems at the Japanese Grand Prix claiming it hurt their bid to win the drivers’ championship this season.
Teams were instructed by FIA to start with wet tyres via email, but Ferrari never received the mail. The tyre confusion set them off the pace, much to Todt’s dismay.
“I’m very disappointed about the way of communication of the important instructions from the stewards right before the race. They should have done better,” the Frenchman told Ferrari World.
Kimi Raikonnen is already 17 points behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton with only two races remaining, so the prospect of him securing the championship is most unlikely.
The FIA has since apologised to Ferrari for the mishap, a mistake that Todt feels has already cost them dearly.
“Apart from the fact that the procedure has not been formally observed, there is also the regret that certain actions have not been implemented by the ones, who for example had to underline the fact that we had to use rain tyres, while on the monitors the message about the fact that we had to start behind the safety car was transmitted.
“But also the FIA personnel could have verified on the grid, that all teams had received the communication.
“It’s true that the press release by the Federation Sunday evening acknowledged the procedural mistake, but by then the damage was already done.”