02 September 2023 , 12:21
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Sky Sports F1 presenter Simon Lazenby apologised to viewers on Saturday after Ferrari chief Frederic Vasseur swore during a live interview.
It happened shortly after the conclusion of the third and final practice session of this Italian Grand Prix weekend. Vasseur took a few minutes out of his schedule to chat with Lazenby as well as pundits Naomi Schiff and Nico Rosberg.
Naturally, the venue that Formula 1 is racing at this weekend was a topic of conversation. Monza is always a special place to race for Ferrari, who are always expected to win by the passionate and demanding 'Tifosi' – the superfans cheering on the Italian team.
When asked about it, Vasseur admitted there is always an extra motivation for his team at this venue. But in doing so he used some colourful language for which Lazenby was quick to apologise to viewers.
"It's quite emotional," said the Frenchman who is leading Ferrari on Italian soil for the first time this weekend. "I tried all week to calm everybody down and say, "Guys, you can't score more points in Monza than somewhere else'.
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"But this is bulls***. When you arrive on Thursday morning at Monza with all the guys in red, you can feel it. You can feel the passion, the emotion. For us, we have to take it as a positive and get an extra push from this."
With a smirk, Lazenby said: "A quick apology for the language," before inviting colleague Schiff to pose the next question. Vasseur was in a jovial mood throughout the interview, which was unsurprising given Carlos Sainz had gone quickest in two of the three practice sessions.
"Still alive," he quipped, before reacting to Sainz's speed. He added: "Yeah, but it's this afternoon [in qualifying] that we have to put everything together. So far it's good, the pace is okay – even on the long stint that we did pretty well.
"But, again, it's so tight and it will be so tight this afternoon. We cannot be relaxed, we have to be focused and get all of the hundredths that we can get."