Even after the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s strategy was once again discussed. The decision to bring Charles Leclerc into the pits on lap twelve under the virtual safety car phase to switch from soft to medium tires was, according to many fans, the main reason why the Monegasse fell against Max Verstappen had no chance at all.
Leclerc was unlucky that the VSC phase stopped during his pit stop, meaning he could no longer fully benefit from the other drivers on track having to stick to a slow delta time.
At the time of the tire change, the pole setter was around 1.5 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who had previously plowed through the field from seventh on the grid and was gradually able to close the gap to the Ferrari driver. Red Bull admitted after the race that if Leclerc had stayed out, they would have pitted the Dutchman even during the VSC phase. They wanted to do exactly the opposite to Ferrari.
Why Leclerc didn’t use hard tires
“We understand why they did that. Strategically, they made a good decision. I think we just had a faster car today and would have won the race regardless,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner after the race .
An assessment shared by Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto: “In retrospect, we believe it was the right decision when the virtual safety car was activated. We knew that Charles had good pace, but Max had better tire degradation and was already faster than us.”
“If we had stayed on the same strategy as him, with just one stop, he would have beaten us sooner or later,” said Binotto, who explains why Ferrari pulled out the medium tires and not the hard tires for Leclerc , in order to go for a clear two-stop strategy right from the start.
Binotto: Beating Verstappen was “simply impossible”
“So the only chance for us was to somehow switch to a different strategy and pit at the time of the VSC. We were a bit unlucky because the VSC ended while we were still in the pit lane, so we didn’t do the whole potential advantage, but I still think Max was faster overall today and we couldn’t beat it.”
“Apart from that, I find one other observation interesting,” Binotto continues. “The Red Bulls were ready in the pit lane, so they just made a different decision than we did and they probably would have pitted if we had stayed out.”
Since Red Bull also seems to have had the slightly better overall package in Monza, according to the Ferrari team boss it was “impossible” to beat Verstappen: “It’s not difficult to beat a faster car, it’s simply impossible.”
“Usually you win when you have the faster car and you can only lose the race when you have the fastest car with the wrong strategy. So I think he was faster today. Regardless of the strategy he would have won, that is the point.”
Binotto: Leclerc’s strategy could have worked too
“But the decision to pit and make two stops with Charles was still not wrong because you never know what can happen later in the race. You never know what Max’s tire degradation can be like on longer stints.”
“And if you look at the car behind Charles, the gap he had on George at the end of the race [Russell] had, big and comfortable. So all in all it wasn’t a risk. Or let me put it another way: It was a risk that could have turned into a positive decision,” analyzes Binotto.
Leclerc wasn’t quite sure after the race whether Ferrari’s strategic decision was right or wrong, but he was fairly certain that the F1-75 lacked some pace compared to Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Leclerc: From there ‘we were behind’
“In the end we finished second, which is why I’m not super happy with the race,” said Leclerc. “We didn’t know exactly what they were [Verstappen] behind us, so we made that decision.”
“The first decision was to stop under the virtual safety car and I think we all had doubts. I think if we hadn’t done it, Max would have done it. It was a bit unfortunate because it ended up in the middle of the pit lane the VSC so we didn’t get the full advantage. And from that point on we were a little behind.”
“We have to look at how much we’ve lost as a result,” Leclerc continued. “I think it would have been very, very difficult anyway. We probably would have had a bit more advantage over Max and might have tried to finish the race on the medium. But that wasn’t possible because Max was too close with the fresh tires so we had to stop again before he caught up with us.”
Leclerc: We have to improve our strategy
At the same time, the Ferrari driver emphasizes that there is no reason to criticize the strategists, although they have made a few mistakes so far this season: “I think if you look at our season as a whole, there were certainly mistakes and we have to get better at that.”
“If this [in Monza] I don’t think it was a clear mistake because it was just our decision and looking back you just can’t predict when the VSC will end. If I hadn’t stopped, Max would have pitted and he would have had the same problem as me. So you can’t blame anyone. I was just a bit unlucky and probably lacked a bit of pace.”