After the finish of the British Grand Prix, the win that went to Carlos Sainz, Mattia Binotto commented on the actions of the Ferrari team, which actually helped one of its drivers, while at the expense of another.
Q: Congratulations on another win! But still I want to start by talking about Charles Leclerc’s race: it looked like he was faster than his partner today, and after you asked your riders to switch positions on lap 31, he was able to take a lead of 4, Create 6 seconds. And then the safety car pulled into the track, and I want to ask you: why didn’t you call Charles to the pits at that moment and make a double pit stop?
Mattia Binotto: We thought there wouldn’t be enough space in the pits for two cars at the same time, we were sure of that, so we had to choose which car to invite – the one that goes in first position, or the one in second? We decided to call Carlos for a pit stop because Charles was in charge at the time and we didn’t know how the rivals would react if we called him.
It was clear to us that Carlos, not Charles, had to be called to the pits. But we hoped that this would start an intensive degradation of soft rubber, but this did not happen.
Q: After the finish you discussed something with Charles. It is understandable that he is upset as he expected to win the race. What did you say to him? So that he refrains from making public comments on this topic and only says the right things in interviews? Did you promise to take care of everything within the team?
Mattia Binotto: No, there’s nothing to discuss behind closed doors, I just said I understand his frustration. He had a great race, fought at the start, fought later when everyone was on soft tires, and he was running on Hard. In my opinion, Charles drove well, defended well, and while he obviously has no reason to be happy, it’s important now to stay calm and positive.
Q: Carlos was waiting for his first win of 150 races, yesterday he took pole position, and although it seemed his partner was faster than him in the race, after the restart, when it really mattered, he handled flawlessly and achieved success . †
Mattia Binotto: In my opinion this speaks of Carlos’ strengths, agree? He’s trying to be ahead all the time, waiting for a chance for him, because it was the same in yesterday’s qualifying, when the opponents may have made minor mistakes. And he did one lap at a steady pace and took pole.
Stability is its strongest point. He fights to the end, and when an opportunity presents itself, Carlos always takes it. I’m very happy for him because this is his first win, which is very important for a driver, and as he won the race with Ferrari, it only adds to the importance of the performance. I think it’s a well-deserved success.
Q: It seems that not only Ferrari and Red Bull are now involved in the dispute for victories, but also Mercedes. Are you satisfied with your car’s performance this weekend, its speed and efficiency?
Mattia Binotto: We are happy that Mercedes is competitive again…
Q: Are you genuinely happy about this?
Mattia Binotto: First of all, of course, because it’s good for the championship. Second, they take points away from our direct rivals. But I’m not sure if their car will be consistently competitive as they lost quite a bit in yesterday’s qualifying. Let’s see how they do in the next races.
Absolutely, they put a lot of effort into customizing the car and eliminating the problems they encountered, and spent a lot of money on it. But it seems their efforts are paying off.
Source: F1 News
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