Caterham team principal Manfredi Ravetto says he was surprised by comments from Kamui Kobayashi following the Russian Grand Prix.
The Japanese driver told reporters after the race that he was told to retire from last place on lap 21 in order to save engine and component mileage.
Ravetto says this simply isn’t true and the real reason behind the retirement was because of an issue they spotted on the car’s telemetry.
“Actually, I was very surprised to hear Kamui referring to some mileage-saving instruction coming from the team’s management: we saw via telemetry that there was a potential issue with the brakes and we decided to avoid any risks,” explained Ravetto.
“Kamui officially confirmed this as well and I’d like to add that he had also asked us to change the previous set before qualifying because he felt some vibration.
“To be clear: yes, we instructed Kamui to retire because the safety of our drivers is our first concern!”
Ravetto added that there was no reason to retire on any other grounds as the team has made great progress in the latter half of the season and believes it can overcome Marussia or Sauber to secure at least 10th in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Regarding Kamui’s comment, all I can say – and again, I’m answering with facts – is that the team has continuously made progress since the British Grand Prix, we’ve managed to qualify very well in the last two races, getting very close to Q2, and in Suzuka we repaired Kamui’s heavily damaged car in time for the next session without any problems, so I cannot understand his comment.”
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