Mattia Binotto explained that at the time of the safety-car at the British GP, Ferrari believed it would not be possible to call Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc into the pits together and had to make a choice
The safety car in the final part of the British GP, held this Sunday (3), was crucial for Carlos Sainz's victory, and that's because Ferrari decided to call the Spaniard, and not Charles Leclerc, to put on soft tires. As the Monegasque remained on the track with hard, worn compounds, he was easy prey not only for his teammate, but also for Sergio Pérez, who finished second, and Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium.
Leclerc finished only fourth and was very upset with the team. The cameras even recorded Mattia Binotto gesturing to the Monegasque, asking for calm and hinting that they would talk after the race.
"We were sure at that moment that we would not have enough time space between the two cars to make the double pit-stop," explained the Ferrari boss. "A choice had to be made between the two, and we decided to stop Charles by Charles' position on the track, still in the lead. And you have no way to predict what the others will do if you stop the leader," he explained.
"It was clear to us that we should stop Charles, and not Charles. So we waited for a degradation of the soft tires, but it didn't happen," continued Binotto, who also dismissed the idea of possible friction between the pair after the race.
"There is nothing to be solved internally. That [the image of Binotto talking to Leclerc] was to say that he had done a fantastic job and fought hard in the race. You can understand the disappointment," he added.
About Sainz's victory, Binotto celebrated the Spaniard's persistence, recalling that he had already shown in qualifying that he was in a great moment in England. "Carlos' strength is that he is always there, and we saw that yesterday, when the others made mistakes [in qualifying] and he managed to make his lap. I'm very happy for him, it's his first win. I'm very satisfied."
Finally, the Italian also commented on the apparent comeback of Mercedes, who fought for victory and managed to finish on the podium with Hamilton. For Binotto, the best thing was to see that the seven-time champion managed to take important points away from rival Red Bull.
"First of all, I'm happy today to see Mercedes back and competitive. I think that's great, because they took points from our direct competitors, and if they are always competitive and fast like this, great. Let's see in the next races. They are developing a lot, working on the problems they have, spending a lot, but they are back.