Esteban Ocon's retirement in the final straight of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix added spice to an already epic race. And the Frenchman's breakdown 12 laps from the end of the race at Silverstone once again put Ferrari in the spotlight.

With the safety car in action, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez, and Lewis Hamilton, as well as everyone else, went into the pits to fit one last sequence on the circuit on soft tires. Then-race leader Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, stayed on track - which eventually robbed the Monegasque of the chance to try for victory, and even podium.

"The safety-car window is closed. Stay on the track," Leclerc's engineer Xavier Marcos Padros informed Leclerc at the time, repeating the two phrases more than once.

O acidente da largada em Silverstone que envolveu vários pilotos e fez Zhou sair voando (Vídeo: F1 TV) — The crash at the start at Silverstone that involved several drivers and sent Zhou flying (Video: F1 TV)

After the race, when asked why he didn't stop, Leclerc vented. "We could have done it, but I was told to stay on the track," he said, confirming that such a decision by Ferrari was one of the topics of conversation with Mattia Binotto after the race.

Yes, there was D.R. The Monegasque was seen in a 'tête-à-tête' with the Ferrari boss - who, according to the driver, wanted to encourage his own boss. "We have to look at the whole picture. From my side, I only have my race - and from my side, I feel I have lost a lot of time. This is just my view, but I haven't seen the whole picture. I don't want the focus to be directed at my disappointing race. My teammate won his first race in Formula One and that is very special," said Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc teve um dia para lamentar e esquecer em Silverstone (Foto: Ferrari) — Charles Leclerc had a day to regret and forget at Silverstone (Photo: Ferrari)

Binotto, for his part, avoided controversy. "I simply told him, 'I understand your disappointment, but you had a fantastic race today. He was struggling at the start and later in the race as well, when he wasn't on soft tires. The way he was driving, protecting the position, was amazing. So being happy is hard, but staying calm and positive is important," he revealed.

According to Sky Sports, Ferrari had approximately 11 seconds to decide whether Leclerc would go into the pits or not. And as revealed by the Italian squad boss after the round at Silverstone, the choice not to stop the Monegasque was strategically correct.

"We thought a double stop would be impossible, so we had to make a decision. We chose Carlos (Sainz) to go into the pits because Charles (Leclerc) was ahead and his tires were newer and fresher. We were counting that the soft ones would degrade faster," Binotto said.

Guanyu Zhou sofre toque na largada, perde controle, capota e voa sob barreira de pneus do circuito de Silverstone (Vídeo: Reprodução/TV) — Guanyu Zhou is touched at the start, loses control, flips over, and flies under the tire barrier at Silverstone circuit (Video: Playback/TV)

This perception of the limitation of the red stripe compounds, in fact, existed in Ferrari. After braking enough to enter the pits and being ordered to stay on the circuit, Leclerc completed one lap and, with the safety-car in front of him, had the following interaction with his engineer.

"Can I still stop?" he questioned the driver, who received "it's too late now" as a response. Xavier Marcos Padros then informed him that both Sainz and Lewis Hamilton were on soft tires - but that such compounds would be "0s5 faster on the first lap, and then high degradation."

Either way, Ferrari will have a chance to make amends for the events of the British GP as early as this weekend. That's when the 2022 Formula One season returns, in Spielberg, for the Austrian GP on July 8-10.