Ricciardo saying it was pretty much driver decision to pit or not for inters....
Forza Ferrari
On Spanish TV, the commentator told Sainz, "Carlos, take off your mask and show us that P3 smile!!"
Carlos:
Well done to Carlos today. In the beginning, I thought we may have a shot at winning the race. But it was still good to see we were able to hold off a Mercedes powered car for that long.
Many drivers were hesitant to pit for inters, understandably, but I think situations like these, the drivers have to trust the pit wall. The pit have all the info to tell where the rain are, how fast its moving, etc.
Max won big today IMO, now he get this engine penalty out of the way and only 2 points behind Leiws
Should Lewis takes his later, Max would be in a good position to capitalize and get an overall gain in points.
Well, considering all the guys he got behind (Vettel, Ocon, Kimi, Russell and Stroll) already pitted 10-12 laps earlier, if he wasn't going to last, will they?
Him and Alonso were latest to pit. Leclerc had pit window to pit behind Stroll, who was already on 13 laps old Hards by that time, and ahead of Russel (who was on something like 15 laps old Hards). They waited 3 laps, lost 3 seconds with Ham and Norris, got behind those guys and some (Vettel, Ocon, Kimi) and then had to push and overtake them, wasting his tires (which he did).
Would it be better to pit at lap 32 with 21 lap to go on mediums (and less then half of fuel) or to pit on lap 35 behind 4 additional cars? No brainer, they botched it pure and simple. If he could have gone for 35 laps with hard, 21 with medium was easy peasy (Vettel did 25 with full fuel btw).
According to Ferraris race report it was Charles decision: He decided to stay out when the rain came, but went off the track, losing valuable time when the rain increased in intensity.
The team has to overrule a driver and pay attention to what's going on. Basically shout "Norris is going off in S2 right now"!!!
Disappointing race end for Charles. But his racing pace was really very good on one of the most demanding circuits in terms of power. This bodes well for the future
Look on the bright side the new PU is reliable and ferrari could match RB for pace so all bodes well for remaining races i don't necessarily see verstapen nor hamilton dominating the remaining races.
Was it a communication problem with the team?
Charles Leclerc : "It wasn’t tbh. Carlos was infront so he had the right to choose before me and at that point when I knew he was pitting, I knew I couldn’t. That’s it.."
(So Ferrari could'nt double-stack both drivers with inters???? )
How did it go wrong?
Charles: "It just started to rain. Quite a bit at one point and we were very competitive in those conditions, the third sector especially was dry,
So what we were losing in S1 and S2 due to the rain, I was gaining in the last sector."
"So I decided to stay out, but then there was one lap were I was doubting the choice but there was Carlos who was just infront of me and was meant to stop in that lap. And I could not stop at the same time."
"And the lap after that, it was already too late. At that point, I knew my race already was compromised and I stayed on slicks, hoping that the rain would decrease, which did not happen."
It's not how start but how you finish.
Whether it was Charles or the pit wall who decided not to stop for inters was a mistake in hindsight, he had driven a great race up until then, so gutted for him to finish pointless. The part-upgrade seemed to work so looking better for the next races when the full upgrade is available to both drivers. Carlos drove a great race to get P3, fully deserved, feel for Norris but not happy that Mclaren again outscored us. A day of mixed fortunes and some pit issues we didn't need. Haven't seen any interview with Charles and little mention of his efforts on Sky, typical.
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