Binotto: Ferrari made ‘right choice’ with Sainz strategy

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is sure that his team made the right call by pitting Carlos Sainz for a second time in France.

Despite carrying a five-second penalty due to an unsafe release by Ferrari, Sainz was looking strong in the latter stages of the race having started P19.

The Spaniard had just passed Sergio Perez for P3 when Ferrari called him in, looking to move away from a one-stop strategy, but Sainz did not take to the pit lane.

Once he did, serving that five-second penalty, Sainz came out with a recovery mission ahead, ultimately finishing P5 with an extra bonus point for setting the fastest lap.

Although there was visible graining on Sainz’s tyres, it did seem a strange call to pit him when his pace was still strong.

Binotto though made it clear that it would have been “really risky” to try and get Sainz to the end without a second stop.

“We don’t feel it’s the right choice, we’re pretty sure it’s the right choice,” Binotto affirmed to Sky Sports F1. “Because at the time he was short on [tyre] life, so it would have been really risky to go to the end.

“We don’t think he would have had the pace still to open the gap to five seconds because he had a five-second penalty at the time. And by stopping he did as well the fastest lap which is certainly a point which was granted. So I think that was the safest and the right decision to take.”

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