Ferrari’s F1 strategy is unfairly criticized, says Sainz

Ferrari’s F1 has been criticized for strategy calls in recent races that have cost it big results. These include not changing Leclerc’s used tyres at the last safety car during the British Grand Prix, and the pit blunder that cost him the victory in Monaco.

The Scuderia enacted a pre-weekend plan for Sainz to tow Leclerc in his slipstream in Q3 to negate Red Bull’s top speed advantage.

It seems the plan worked perfectly, with Charles Leclerc – who is the first to admit that Ferrari’s F1 got the first Q3 lap wrong – taking pole from Max Verstappen by just 0.304 seconds.

Despite the fact that Sainz will start from the back of the grid due to a change in power unit components, he says Ferrari’s qualifying tactics proved how solid the team’s strategy is.

As for the strategy front, I believe we have received quite a bit of criticism on that front,” Sainz said. Moreover, I believe that it is unfair since I believe that every team will make mistakes with tyres, Ferrari’s F1 tyre selection, and so on throughout the season.

Although that may be the case, I believe the team has been very solid in terms of strategy this year, and I think today’s performance is a good reflection of that.

I also think that the relationship with Charles, along with the way the team works, shows again that we are working together very well and it’s clearly working.

I think you need to give it to us and to Ferrari that we did a wonderful job, it was a very nice day for us and for Ferrari.”

At Paul Ricard, Ferrari’s F1 chose to take the penalty hit on its grid, assuming that it would still be able to offer Sainz options for mounting a solid recovery through the field.

The Spaniard responded to the question of what a level of performance would be acceptable for the race by saying:

“I don’t have a reference and especially with half the season left and with the way I’m performing on the track right now, with how fast I was in Q2, how fast I was in Austria, how fast I was in Silverstone, I think it’s not worth thinking about it,” he said.

“I will keep thinking about what I’ve been thinking about recently, which is to get myself back up to speed to last year’s level and I think today proves that I’m getting there and that I will obviously go for it until the team decides.

“But for me, with half of the season left and everything that has happened in the first half, there’s still options.”

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