It was the right decision, we had to be brave. Binotto again defends Ferrari’s risky strategy

Ferrari took only 23 points from Sunday’s Belgian GP, 21 fewer than its main rival Red Bull. Mattia Binotto’s team deprived itself of two points when it decided to call Charles Leclerc into the pits before the start of the penultimate lap.

By the time the Monegasque pulled into pit lane, he was running nineteen seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth place. The average loss caused by a pit stop is just nineteen seconds at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

The intention of the pit stop was clear – to set the fastest lap of the race. For that is one point in the championship and at that moment Max Verstappen held the fastest time.

Leclerc exited the pits just ahead of the Spanish driver, who, with the help of DRS, overtook him in the first sector. The Ferrari driver regained the lead from Alonso at the start of the last circuit, but failed to set the fastest lap.

This would not have been tragic, Leclerc would not have lost any points, he just threw away the opportunity to gain an extra point. The problem came, however, when news came from the sports commissioners that Leclerc had exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane, earning him a five-second penalty.

And that relegated him to sixth place behind Alonso, giving him only eight points for the championship instead of ten. In the Drivers’ Cup, Sergio Pérez moved ahead of Leclerc and the gap to Verstappen increased to 98 points.

Binotto’s comments after the Belgian GP

The Ferrari boss has already opined several times this year that his team’s strategy was correct. The race at Spa was no exception.

“It is often written about us that we make mistakes when they are not mistakes. Focusing on Sunday, the pit stop was the right decision. In Formula 1 you have to be brave. Wehad the chance to get the fastest lap and we had enough of a lead over Fernando to try,“ Binotto said in an interview with F1.

“As I said, it was the right decision, but unfortunately we overshot the pit lane. The situation was very borderline, around 1 km/h. It was unlucky. We weren’t using normal sensors, they were damaged during the overheating of the brakes during the safety car.

Our backup strategy may not have been the most accurate, but overall it was just an unfortunate situation. We must not stop being brave and trying to set the fastest lap when the conditions are right,” added the Ferrari boss.

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