Watch: Sebastian Vettel Crashes Ferrari At F1 Live Event In Milan

Sebastian Vettel suffered a small embarrassment as he crashed his Ferrari SF71-H into the barriers during an F1 Live event in Milan on Wednesday.

The two Ferrari drivers, Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, drove their cars around Milan’s Darsena dockland area as part of the demonstration ahead of the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.

The German driver, during his turn to take the SF71-H around the makeshift track, understeered at slow speed going into a tight right hand turn and collided with the barrier. The crash dislodged the front wing on the car after which he was forced to reverse and cruise to the makeshift pit stop area for repairs.

The crash in Milan brought out a huge gasp from the thousands of fans lining the streets and Vettel would not have wanted to start his Italian Grand Prix week in this fashion.

The four-time world champion trails Lewis Hamilton by 17 points in the Drivers’ championship battle and will be hoping to close the gap this weekend. Ferrari are billed as the favorites owing to their strong showing at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Monza circuit is also a very power hungry circuit like Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, but the characteristics are very different. All the cars will be running low downforce packages with Mercedes expected to bring a significant upgrade to counter Ferrari’s power unit advantage.

Vettel will be keen to maximize any advantage the team has and close the gap on the Mercedes driver, but his crash in Milan during the F1 Live event is certain to be a talking point when he arrives in the paddock ahead of the race Sunday.

The German driver is scheduled to take part in the traditional drivers’ pre-race press conference on Thursday, when he is likely to give an explanation with regards to his crash on the streets on Italy’s fashion capital.

The two Ferrari drivers were not the only two at the event as they were joined by Sauber pair Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson and Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley.

Ferrari, meanwhile, are the only team among the top three yet to confirm their driver lineup for the 2019 season. Mercedes and Red Bull Racing revealed their pairing with the former retaining their two drivers, while the latter confirmed Gasly will replace the departing Daniel Ricciardo.

Ferrari look to be still debating on whether to retain Raikkonen as Vettel’s teammate or promote young Ferrari academy driver Leclerc, who has impressed his debut F1 season with Sauber.

Initially it looked like the Finnish racer might be on his way out, but a string of impressive performances have put him firmly as the favorite to be with the Italian team for at least one more season. Multiple reports are suggesting there could be an announcement during the race weekend in Monza.