"A stronger team would have handled Leclerc and Sainz's duel at Monza differently"

“A stronger team would have handled Leclerc and Sainz’s duel at Monza differently” – Ernest Knoors. Ernest Knoors on Ferrari drivers' battle at Monza.

Ernest Knoors believes that Frederic Vasseur should have prevented the duel between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the final stages of the Monza Grand Prix and frozen the positions, given the high tire degradation on both cars.

According to the former Dutch engineer, the Ferrari pit wall should have managed the back-and-forth between the two Ferrari drivers differently, prioritizing the team’s result and putting aside the personal egos of the two Ferrari drivers.

Knoors believes that the Ferrari pit wall should have prevented the duel between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at Monza.

“What I don’t understand about Ferrari is that if you’re on the edge with tire degradation, what you don’t want is to put two cars so close to each other in the middle of the race, so they start battling each other, to the detriment of tire wear,” Knoors stated on ViaPlay.

“Let them both drive in clean air in front, make a decision. Let someone move forward or back. Don’t let the drivers compete because this way, both of them consume their tires a lot. You saw in the end that Carlos Sainz was struggling to keep his tires alive.”

Fred Vasseur himself later defended the Maranello team’s decision to let the two drivers race freely, as any choice would have faced criticism: “If I had frozen the positions, you would have had exactly the same question: ‘Why did you freeze the situation?'”

“It’s much easier to comment when you have a happy ending. But I believe it was also the best way to thank everyone and the support of the fans.”

Despite Fred Vasseur’s words in defense of the pit wall, Knoors believes that a stronger team would have handled the situation differently.

“I think a stronger team would have handled it differently. A stronger team principal would have said, ‘Guys, I don’t want to see this. The race is still long. I want to keep the opportunity open for the end of the race. That would have been strategically a bit stronger.”

“I don’t think I would have given this message: ‘You can race until the end, but don’t make mistakes.’ I would have just said, ‘Guys, stay away from each other and make sure you don’t do anything stupid. But okay, it was a good fight. We saw something that we don’t usually see. They didn’t collide, but everyone had their hearts in their mouths,” the Dutchman concludes.