Binotto: Ferrari did nothing wrong with Leclerc’s strategy

Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Mattia Binotto insists his side did “nothing wrong” with the handling of Charles Leclerc’s race strategy at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Following a costly Q2 crash that left him eighth on the Baku grid, Leclerc turned in a storming opening stint to move into the lead of the race after 13 laps by running longer into the race than his rivals, having started on the harder Medium tyres.

But Ferrari’s decision to extend Leclerc’s Medium stint to 31 laps enabled the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton to pass him on track, before ultimately dropping to a distant fifth at the flag.

Leclerc said Ferrari was left “out in the blue” with its strategy due to fears the Soft tyres would not make it until the end had he stopped earlier.

“It was something we already discussed together in the post-race debrief,” Binotto replied when asked about the timing of Leclerc’s stop.

“Certainly maybe yes, could have been a different gamble, maybe stopping earlier on our tyre or trying really to last very long on the medium, but I think you may always discuss different salutation at the end of the race looking back.

“But I think that overall what we did was nothing wrong.”

Leclerc dropped back in the latter stages of the race before making an additional pit stop to chase the bonus fastest lap point, though he insisted his low-key pace was not representative of Ferrari’s true performance.

“I think a lot of people thought we were struggling, which I don’t think we were,” Leclerc explained. “I just didn’t push to try and close the gap.

“I asked on the radio pretty earlier in this run whether there was any possibility to come back to the guys in front, and the answer was no because the gap was too big.

“From that moment onwards it was just about trying to keep the tyres and try to push for the fastest lap when I had the opportunity to do so. Don’t look at the pace from when we put the softs, it’s not our real pace; we were just trying to do the best lap.

“The fifth place, obviously when I’m looking at FP1, FP2, FP3 and quali, even though obviously FP1, FP2, FP3 is not very representative, I am disappointed because I felt great in the car.

“I completely agree with Mattia - I think in the car there was definitely the potential to do pole position and I threw all our chances away by touching the wall yesterday it is my mistake, I take the responsibility, and today basically it was the best we could do from there.

“It’s a bit disappointing, but on the other hand I think there are some positives to take away from the weekend. I think quali pace was definitely stronger than China and race pace was also very close to Mercedes.

“Now we look forward, and I’m pretty sure we will come back even stronger in Barcelona.”