Binotto explains the reasons behind Sainz’s disastrous pit stop

The weekends follow one another and look alike for Ferrari. After Charles Leclerc’s misfortune at the Belgian Grand Prix with a visor stuck in one of his brake ducts and a penalty for speeding in the pits, now it’s Carlos Sainz’s turn to suffer from the Scuderia curse.

In Zandvoort, the Spanish driver enters the pit lane on the 15th lap in order to match the very high pace of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, right behind him on medium tires. A stop that will last 12.7 seconds due to a missing tire. “Oh my god,” exclaims Sainz as a mechanic finally emerges from the garage, holding the left-rear tire in his hands.

Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez is also stopped at the same time, right behind the immobilized Ferrari. He overtakes the Ferrari… and runs over one of the wrenches left beside by the mechanics, in the general confusion.

This disastrous pit stop will have dealt a heavy blow to Sainz: while he was third in the standings before entering the pit lane, he will come out eleventh, far behind his rivals. The time he lost in the pit lane amounts to an additional ten seconds compared to Sergio Pérez.

A « too late » stop.

The boss of the Scuderia, Mattia Binotto, commented on this incident after the race, which he himself calls a true disaster. According to him, the pit stop was improvised and Sainz was called to the pit lane while he was still in the last corner, so the mechanics were not prepared.

“Nous savions que Lewis se préparait à un arrêt aux stands et qu’il aurait pu réaliser un undercut”, he explains.

We knew that Lewis was preparing for a pit stop and that he could have executed an undercut, he explains.

“We tried to react in order to stay ahead of him, which was the best way to maintain our position on the track, because we knew Lewis was very fast in the first part of the race,” Mattia Binotto continues.

When we saw the Mercedes mechanics in the pit lane, we called our driver into the pit stop, but he was in the last turn and it was too late for the mechanics to be ready. “It was too late,” said the Italian.

Penalty for unsafe release

Since bad news never comes alone, Carlos Sainz made an unsafe release in the pit lane later in the race, cutting across the path of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. This mistake will result in a five-second penalty, causing him to drop from fifth to eighth position on track.

« About the unsafe release and the penalty, which cost Carlos dearly, I think that the decision of the FIA and the stewards is very severe, says judge Mattia Binotto. « When it happened, the McLaren was passing by and we had stopped Carlos in the pits, because we knew it wouldn’t have been safe to release him at that moment. »

The boss of the Scuderia explains that the driver had to stop because the mechanics of McLaren were busy working on Lando Norris’ car, just ahead.

A version also supported by Sainz himself. It was not an unsafe release, I was relaunched into the pit lane properly but I had to brake to avoid hitting a McLaren guy. Because I made an avoidance, they give you a penalty – I find it very frustrating and I am going to talk to the FIA now because I don’t understand, he said right after the race.