SUMMARY
- Ferrari faced financial woes following a catastrophic incident at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
- The extended insurance claim procedure is similar to Haas's 2017 experience, making both teams' financial recovery equally troublesome.
While the teams and their drivers were preparing for a grand finale to the 2023 season, Ferrari suffered from a serious mishap that posed a financial burden on them. They suffered a serious blow just recently when one of their cars sustained serious damage at the newly opened Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Minutes after the inauguration of the practice session, Carlos Sainz and his vehicle put a pause to it.
The culprit? The Ferrari chassis driven by Sainz was brutally torn apart by a manhole cover on the track. The repercussions of this unfortunate incident were twofold. In addition to the car’s floor and chassis, the power unit also sustained damage, forcing the Energy Store to be replaced. Apart from that, the Spaniard found himself slapped with a 10-place grid penalty as a result of his missing replacement.
Ferrari struggles to recover insurance post-Las Vegas GP
Prancing Horse was undergoing a great deal of financial strain, particularly at a period when tight budget constraints also covered the development of the 2024 project. Fred Vasseur acknowledged the high expenses Ferrari had spent and reported that the team had swiftly submitted an insurance claim for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Fred, have you got any answers yet on who’s going to be picking up the costs for what happened in Las Vegas?
Fred Vasseur: You know that when you open the discussion with the insurance, it’s for ages. It’s true everywhere, including in F1. We’ll have time to have the discussion. pic.twitter.com/2M9I6CYjL7
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) December 26, 2023
However, there seems to be a long wait to recover the finances. When questioned on the matter, team principal Vasseur said, “You know that, when you open the discussion with the insurance, it’s ages! It’s true everywhere, including in F1. We will have the time to have the discussion, we reopened the case yesterday or the day before. But it would be fair!”
This episode drew parallels to the Haas team’s 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix nightmare, where a loose drain cover caused mayhem on Romain Grosjean’s car. The American team had to endure the wait of a full year for the insurance company to approve a settlement of almost €710,000.
Carlos Sainz blames authorities for P2 loss in 2023
The 29-year-old driver at Ferrari was dissatisfied with the grid penalty he got at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which he felt was due to uncontrollable circumstances that neither Ferrari nor himself could have prevented. The street circuit was marred with a lot of controversies, primarily the Sainz’s crash which led to an abrupt end of the practice session and forced evacuation of fans.
The stewards have confirmed that Ferrari will not be granted dispensation for the use of an additional power unit element on Carlos Sainz’s car following that huge damage sustained in the drain incident during P1.
The use of an additional energy store means Sainz has gone over… pic.twitter.com/L8wnjVTuHF
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 17, 2023
According to Carlos Sainz, “I’m still angry about what happened and it affected my championship and Ferrari’s championship. But even if you put a protest you never win it, so there it is, the way F1 behaved with me and Ferrari, I don’t see a solution to the problem. Maybe without that breakage, the end of the season would have been different, with a different performance in Abu Dhabi. It was an unfortunate end…”
The stewards admitted that the situation was not their fault, but they claimed that they were not authorized to dismiss the penalty. Sainz was more frustrated than he had ever felt in the past as a result of the events that had unfolded.