It's a very special week in house Ferrari. The Silverstone race, brought home thanks to Carlos Sainz, however, did not make everyone happy team. Indeed, in England, if it can be summarized thus, we can say: good management of the race, bad instead that for the world...
Binotto: "We wanted to favor Leclerc"
Indeed, there were no shortages the criticisms towards the Prancing Horse, particularly on the choice of do not return Leclerc at the time of the safety car, preferring to enter the pits of Sainz. To try to give a total explanation of the initial idea of the team, having also seen the words of Leclerc, the statements of team principal Mattia Binotto have arrived.
When asked why, when the safety car arrived, Leclerc was not stopped, Binotto replied: "In a similar situation common sense says to give priority to whoever is in front so as not to lose positions on the track. There is nothing strange about the strategy. As always, the priority was who was in front, Leclerc in this case. He had fresher tyres, if we had called him to the pits our rivals would have opted for an opposite strategy. They would have gained positions, also having almost new tyres".
“Different strategy with Sainz”
A decision that led obviously to a change of strategy with Sainz: "With Carlos we opted for an opposite strategy so as not to miss any chance. If we hadn't done this, putting both riders on the same strategy, we would have risked losing the race by literally handing the victory over to our rivals".
The Spaniard under accusation
There was no lack of it the criticisms also against the Spanish rider. In fact, many did not consider him a true teammate for disrespecting some team orders. On this point too, binotto however, he preferred to clarify: “Absolutely not. Carlos didn't ignore the indications of the team, he made it clear to us that he had to protect himself from our opponents, and in this way he was also protecting our advantage. We were all aligned on this. I realize that without having a complete picture of the situation, one might get the feeling that Carlos is not a team player. However, let's think that a few laps before he had given up his position without any hesitation or complaint. He clearly showed that for him the team comes first."
STATEMENT SOURCE: F1in general
