Binotto praises Ferrari’s “team spirit” after drivers follow team orders

Leclerc was asked to move over for his teammate - who was running on 12-lap fresher tyres - in a bid to close down Pierre Gasly in fourth.

Sainz was unable to do so and returned the position back to Leclerc on the final lap.

Ferrari secured fifth and sixth in Mexico to move back into third in the constructors’ championship, 13.5 points ahead of McLaren.

Speaking after the race, Binotto revealed that the idea of team orders was discussed before the grand prix.

“It’s a scenario we discussed this morning during our usual strategy meeting,” Binotto said. “We knew that at some stage in the race, maybe because we made a different strategy between the two, one stopping early, the other one staying longer on-track, and the one staying longer would have a tyre disadvantage by the end of the race.

“So we knew that it could have been maybe an opportunity to try to catch up the driver ahead, who was Gasly. We discussed the point, we said OK, the guy stopping earlier, maybe it’s not the best time to stop. But somehow you try to, by doing that, Gasly stopped immediately after, and we tried by staying longer somehow to have a chance by the end of the race.

“That was on paper, and we said by doing that we would have given an advantage to one of the two drivers who we stopped, with the intention at least to try and catch up Gasly and then swap back if that would not have worked, and we did it.”

Binotto believes that the drivers adhering to team orders highlighted Ferrari’s “good team spirit”.

“So I think it has been a good team spirit, it has been a good team effort,” Binotto added. “It has been in the collaboration of the two drivers, great, the way it has been managed.

“Not easy when you are six, seven seconds ahead to slow down so much and to swap again, to give back the position. 

“But I think they both understand the situation at the moment, so we tried whatever we could try to catch up Gasly, but when we realised it would not have been possible, we simply kept to the original positions.”

Carlos Sainz said it was important Ferrari gets “confident” using team orders in case it needs to again in the future.

“I think we’ve seen this to many other teams,”  Sainz explained.

“What is important is that we get confident as a team to do it out of respect of the team orders, because it will happen later this season or in the following years to come, we might be in a similar situation, so as teammates and the whole team, we need to get comfortable with switching positions on track like we’ve done at other races.

“I think today as a team we executed nicely.”