“What we chose was the right one and the right one.” Not a doubt. Mattia Binotto, boss of Ferrari, was strong in the press conference after the French GP when asked about the strategy they chose with Carlos Sainz, who decided to stop at the end of the race when he overtook ‘Checo’ Pérez in third position. , but with worse tires, with a high risk of running out of rubber at the end of the race, and he knew Sainz had a 5 second penalty.
You have to understand the context. Carlos, starting 19th with the need to come back, started with an inverted approach at best, being one of the few who opted for hard rubber to start. The ‘Safety Car’ caused by Leclerc’s accident was too early and it forced Sainz to stop earlier than expected, on lap 18, to put the medium tires on too early, with 35 laps to go, too many to on those wheels. A two-stop approach seems mandatory. However, the race situation of Carlos, who overtook ‘Checo’ Pérez after a good battle, invited Sainz to think that the right thing to do was to stay on track.
Carlos asked on the radio if the Red Bulls should stop again and given the team’s negative response, he told his engineer that if he stopped he wouldn’t have time to make up for lost time in a pit lane that was too long like Paul to Ricard.
However, the team insisted to Carlos that he had to stop, giving him the order at a bad time, in the middle of the fight with Pérez, something that Sainz didn’t like because he didn’t think it was time to tell him anything. . “Not now!” he repeated three times. The Ferrari wall thought those tires would be too low and Sainz would suffer a lot. In addition, Sainz had to build a margin of 5 seconds with Pérez and Russell due to the penalty he had, something that was impossible due to the tires he was wearing.
Finally, he made his second stop and exited the track 30 seconds from third position, after serving a 5-second penalty in the pits. He attacked until the end, but only had time to move up to fifth position with a great finish to the race. “I don’t understand anything,” Sainz said on the radio, making it clear he preferred to stay on the track and defend himself without tires. But after the appointment, he defended his team: “I had a different impression on the car but the team has more data than me to make the decision it made and I am sure that with its data they will make the right decision . . .
His boss Mattia Binotto also pointed out the same: “I think Carlos from the cockpit, hot, didn’t have all the information, so it was difficult for him to judge. But there’s no doubt that I think we made the right decision,” added the Swiss-born engineer.
“Tires don’t have enough useful life”
“In the beginning, we tried to extend the stint as much as possible to have the most freedom, the life of the tire, to make sure that we did not overdo any decisions in terms of the life of the tire,” he continued.
“Once we get all the necessary information, we realize that there is no tire enough life to reach the end of the race. As simple as that. Staying outside is a risk in terms of safety and reliability in terms of tire life. So we have to stop,” he declared bluntly, shutting down possible debate.
“Also, I think the rhythm of Carlos it would not be enough to open an advantage of more than five seconds to Pérez and Russell I have to cover the 5 second penalty. So stopping is the right thing to do.”
And that’s not all. Binotto considers that with this decision he has not only optimized Carlos’ position in the race. But the possibility of covering another point is ensured: Sainz set the fastest lap as he had the freshest tires at the end of the race. “By doing that we got the fastest race lap, which is an important point for the team and for Carlos. So again, I think what we did was a good choice, waiting for the right time, having all the data and making the right call.
For all this, Sainz, who is already cold, is sure that the team will show him through the data that he will not reach the end of the race if he does not enter. Inside the car, the Spaniard was in favor of continuing and fighting until the end, although he knew it would mean great suffering in the end. However, this time the team was very clear about it and acted accordingly.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
