Photo: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
I must say, when I realized Ferrari’s pitstop engineers forgot to bring out Carlos Sainz’s left rear tire and they were just staring at each other befuddled, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes in frustration, even though I’m not a Ferrari fan. And no, I don’t support any specific team in Formula One.
Still, you can’t help but feel bad for both Leclerc and Sainz, because they’ve been driving their behinds off and their team principal has yet to take any drastic measures in a bid to change their culture around the paddock.
Mattia Binotto, who’s responsible for running the team, still insists that no changes are needed because they’ve got “great people” working for them, reports Motorsport. Well, allow me to remain skeptical, because two of these “great people” removed Sainz’s left rear tire without even realizing they didn’t have a spare next to them.
How come they don’t have somebody to take an overview of the situation prior to a car coming into the pit? Sainz was battling Lewis Hamilton during that initial stint, and what happened next pretty much ruined his entire race (he finished P8).
Speaking of which, the Ferrari driver was also handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release later, as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso had to brake hard in order to avoid making contact. To be fair, that decision wasn’t exactly cut and dried, because the Spaniard accelerated, decelerated (for some reason) and then accelerated again. Had the exit gone according to plan, Alonso probably wouldn’t have had to brake like that.
Anyway, here’s what former F1 champion Nico Rosberg had to say about Ferrari’s performance in the Netherlands: “Oh my goodness. Mattia Binotto keeps saying ‘No, no, we don’t need to make changes, everything is going well. When is the day coming?”
“It’s not possible – even Formula 2 teams or F3 teams do a better job at their strategy and pitstops than Ferrari. You go to the pits and there’s no tire there in a normal race? At some point they really need to start making some changes.”
Binotto then fired back at Rosberg claiming that it’s easy to be critical from the outside looking in.
“First, I think it is so easy to speak when you are outside [of the paddock]. It is easy to criticize. But we will not change people, that is my answer to Rosberg. […] We have got great people in the team and I have no doubt on that.”
The Ferrari team boss went on to explain the error by saying that his outfit made a very late call to bring in Sainz, as a direct reaction to what Mercedes were doing with Lewis Hamilton.
I for one am not buying it. Late call, early call, you don’t just forget one of the tires that’s supposed to go on your car, especially when you’re under that much pressure to deliver.
Mattia Binotto, who’s responsible for running the team, still insists that no changes are needed because they’ve got “great people” working for them, reports Motorsport. Well, allow me to remain skeptical, because two of these “great people” removed Sainz’s left rear tire without even realizing they didn’t have a spare next to them.
How come they don’t have somebody to take an overview of the situation prior to a car coming into the pit? Sainz was battling Lewis Hamilton during that initial stint, and what happened next pretty much ruined his entire race (he finished P8).
Speaking of which, the Ferrari driver was also handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release later, as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso had to brake hard in order to avoid making contact. To be fair, that decision wasn’t exactly cut and dried, because the Spaniard accelerated, decelerated (for some reason) and then accelerated again. Had the exit gone according to plan, Alonso probably wouldn’t have had to brake like that.
Anyway, here’s what former F1 champion Nico Rosberg had to say about Ferrari’s performance in the Netherlands: “Oh my goodness. Mattia Binotto keeps saying ‘No, no, we don’t need to make changes, everything is going well. When is the day coming?”
“It’s not possible – even Formula 2 teams or F3 teams do a better job at their strategy and pitstops than Ferrari. You go to the pits and there’s no tire there in a normal race? At some point they really need to start making some changes.”
Binotto then fired back at Rosberg claiming that it’s easy to be critical from the outside looking in.
“First, I think it is so easy to speak when you are outside [of the paddock]. It is easy to criticize. But we will not change people, that is my answer to Rosberg. […] We have got great people in the team and I have no doubt on that.”
The Ferrari team boss went on to explain the error by saying that his outfit made a very late call to bring in Sainz, as a direct reaction to what Mercedes were doing with Lewis Hamilton.
I for one am not buying it. Late call, early call, you don’t just forget one of the tires that’s supposed to go on your car, especially when you’re under that much pressure to deliver.
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