Ferrari to ‘fully analyse’ what went wrong in Sainz’s slow Turkish GP pit stop

Sainz started from the back of the grid after taking Ferrari’s upgraded power unit for the race at Istanbul Park.

The Spaniard ultimately finished eighth, but a delayed pit stop where he was stationary for approximately eight seconds cost him a shot at beating Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris. 

Explaining the cause of the issue, Binotto said after the race: “The pit stop itself was finished in what can be considered a normal timing, and then the signal to the lights, which has to be a manual thing now that the pit stop is completed, was never received by the system. 

“So there is something wrong between the manual signal to the systems that was not perfectly right so that needs to be fully analysed on our side, and somehow it's a shame and a pity because we know that the pitstop itself was properly completed. So it's a matter of signal to the system, and safe release.”

Pit stops aside, Binotto was pleased with how the upgraded Ferrari power unit performed. 

“As we said at the very start with Charles, when we introduced it in Sochi, the first objective is try to increase our experience in the view of 2022, Binotto explained. “That’s why we introduced it as soon as possible, trying to rush it, taking some risks as well, but it’s all a risk assessment. 

“Because obviously for us it’s clear to get mileage on-track and do our own experience before 2022 where the power units will be frozen. That’s really for us, that was the key and the reason of that. It is giving us a small advantage, I don’t want to quantify it on lap time because it is track dependent. It’s not only pure ICE power, it’s energy recovery, so it’s a bit complex. 

“But certainly it’s giving us an advantage as the drivers said. If I look as well at qualifying with Charles, it was the qualifying with the fourth lap time, if I look behind him, it was very close, and I’m pretty sure that a couple of positions would have been lost without that specification.”

Ferrari trails McLaren by 7.5 points in the race for third in the constructors’ championship.