Ferrari's strategic failures at every race are starting to bite them. This time, it was Carlos Sainz who was at the receiving end at the French GP on Sunday. Sainz was running on medium tyres and had a five-second penalty he had to serve. He had strong speed but was stuck behind Sergio Perez and was unable to get ahead.
Sainz kept asking to be pitted for fresh tyres to push the cars ahead of him, but each time, he was told to continue till the end. Surprisingly, as soon as Sainz jumped Perez, he was called into the pits, which completely compromised his race as he dropped down the order to P5.
F1 fans on Twitter lambasted the Italian team for their strategic failure that compromised one of their driver's race. Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:
"Ferrari have terrible strategy, the two drivers have no confidence in what they are being told. #FrenchGrandPrix"
"Ferrari’s strategy this season #F1 #ScuderiaFerrari #FrenchGP #CarlosSainz #CharlesLeclerc"
"I felt his pain but jokes aside Ferrari are terrible with strategy"
"How many times are you gonna post this before you actually FIX SOMETHING?!"
"F1 makes you say weird things out loud like "Thank God I'm not driving a Ferrari." #FrenchGP"
"Another mechanical cover up. Charles yelled throttle as soon as he hit the tyres. Nothing I repeat nothing to do with reversing out. Ferrari is a mess. It’s really sad. Botching of Carlos strategy. In the Brawn, Todt era they were a machine."
"me waiting for the team to come up with a good strategy to get a double podium for their drivers"
"Not really, it’s entirely on the team. Design a car that functions and you can call a failure heartbreaking, but at this point it’s every other race."
Carlos Sainz explains Ferrari's strategy call
Carlos Sainz protested the move to pit after passing Sergio Perez and was very vocal on the team radio, as he was left in no man's land, eventually finishing fifth. The Spaniard, while talking to the media, tried to explain the logic behind the team strategy:
“My point of view was that if I couldn’t pass Checo, I would box because I’m P4, and there’s nothing really going on," said Sainz. "And (if) I cannot pass Checo, let’s try and box and come back. The moment I passed Checo, I was like ‘okay, I’m P3, let’s see if I can pull away five seconds and make it to the end with these tyres."
He continued:
“At that stage, our numbers said that (it was) impossible to make it to the end, plus the five-second penalty, you risk even losing position to Fernando or whatever. So the team took it to play it safe; we knew P5 plus fastest lap is good points – and we took P5 plus fastest lap. In the moment, maybe, my feeling was different, but until (now) I don’t see the numbers, and everything is impossible for me. I think we will never know what would have been the best.”
Carlos Sainz was P3 when he pitted and had the legs on Sergio Perez, but a podium finish was not to be.