Ferrari defend Carlos Sainz: “He did not ignore team orders” | 2022 British GP. Ferrari defend Carlos.

Scuderia Ferrari secured its third win of the 2022 Formula 1 season as Carlos Sainz won the British Grand Prix last weekend, after a series of complicated races for the Maranello team. The Spanish driver took his first F1 win, but the celebrations for Carlos Sainz’s Silverstone triumph were also overshadowed by the controversial strategy decisions made by the Italian side in the final stages of the race, as Charles Leclerc was overtaken by his Maranello teammate at the restart phase following the Safety Car’s entry onto the track. with the Monegsque driver also passed by Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez to finish outside the podium after Ferrari decided not to call him in for now fresh tyres.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto was asked to comment on this moment and, analyzing the incident, defended the choice made by Carlos Sainz. In fact, the Spaniard was initially asked by the Maranello team to keep a distance of ten cars from Charles Leclerc, who was in the lead but with used hard tires. Carlos Sainz, like the rest of the Top 10, had new red tires, much better performing than those of the Monegasque. The Spaniard was immediately aware of the big opportunity and promptly rejected the request for the box, claiming that by doing so he would have risked compromising his race and Ferrari’s win.

Carlos Sainz did not ignore any team orders
Asked whether Carlos had ignored a team order, Mattia Binotto promptly replied: “Absolutely not. Carlos did not ignore the team’s indications, he made it clear that he had to protect himself from our opponents, and in this way he was also protecting our advantage. We were all aligned on this. I realize that without having a complete picture of the situation, one can get the feeling that Carlos is not a team player. But let’s think that just a few laps before he had given up his position without any hesitation or complaint. He clearly showed that for him the team comes first” – the Ferrari boss said, in a recent interview for Motorsport Italy.

The choice of the Spanish driver, which later proved to be the right one for him, albeit to the detriment of Charles Leclerc, was therefore defended by the team principal from Maranello. Mattia Binotto did, in fact, want to shut down any accusations according to which Carlos Sainz had acted selfishly, arguing that the team remains the priority for the Spaniard.