La Ferrari she headed towards Hungary with the hope of permanently closing the difficult weekend in France. The best result she managed to get at Paul Ricard is a 5th place with Carlos Sainz. Also seeing both Mercedes on the podium, it smacks of a real defeat. A result that weighs, a symptom of one maturity not yet reached by the various elements that make up the Maranello team, including the drivers. The error of Charles Leclerc, which resulted in the Monegasque a very heavy 0 in ranking, is one of those elements that will be put on the scale at the end of the season. As well as the strategic mistakes of Ferrari and the problems of reliability.
One of the choices that could have compromised Sainz's race in France, as well as may have saved her, is the choice to call him back to the pits for a second stop while he was in P3 after a comeback from P19, during which the Spaniard served the 5 second penalty for unsafe release. According to Sainz, called among other things immediately after having made a magical overtaking on Perez, there was the margin to finish the race without a further stop. But Mattia Binotto and the team promptly responded to the Spaniard and to the entire audience, including media and fans, clarifying Ferrari's strategic choice.
A monster F1-75
If it is true that these errors have a weight, on the other side of the scale, however, there is a much bigger one, namely the raw material, the F1-75. A real work of art, still to be refined in detail, but extraordinarily powerful. Handled properly, it can be returned, if not already from this year from next, the Cavallino on the roof of the worldthat development of the F1-75 continued in France has given the team the desired results, even if the main problem, namely the tire management put the team in crisis for the whole weekend. The decision to call Sainz to the pits to avoid a double 0 was dictated by this factor. However, also seeing the race of Pierre Gasly, who finished the race with a stop, despite having the same strategy as the Spaniard, the criticisms on yet another questionable choice of the Ferrari pit wall began to flock.
Binotto: "it was the right choice"
To the microphones of Sky Sport F1 in the post-race Mattia Binotto defended the strategy on Sainz:“I know there are questions about Carlos' second pit stop, but we think stopping him again was the correct choice. We also talked about it with him, we cleared up, we didn't have enough rubber to finish the race. In doing so she made a point for the fastest lap, she took it away from Max, there are many reasons. We would not have reached the end and at that point we chose the most appropriate to do so”.
A great comeback
Despite this, all the credits go to Sainz for having made an incredible comeback, also considering that he had given up hydration to carry as little weight as possible. Questionable choice from the point of view of safety also considering the extreme heat in France, but that didn't compromise the Spaniard's race, engaged in a series of overtakings which confirm his better feeling with the car compared to the beginning of the season.
Ferrari found themselves very well with the medium tyres, which he had saved for the race. "We had brought two sets of medium new to the race convinced it was the right choice, that they went better than the Hards, we knew we could handle them well and we did”, he continued binotto. "Sainz did a great race starting from the back, he was patient on the first lap to avoid accidents and then lap after lap he came back. He too had problems with the unsafe release at the pit stop, we'll look closely to understand what happened".
A very positive weekend for the Spaniard who also made a great contribution in qualifying with a double slipstream for Charles. All combined with overtaking on Sunday, also praised by Mattia Binotto: “He did amazing things like overtaking Perez on the outside. He had the courage and overtook like a great driver. And the car, however, proved to be there", concluded the Ferrari team principal.
Source statements: Motorsport.com
