Ferrari feel decision not to pit drivers during VSC period was right

Scuderia Ferrari has defended its call not to pit Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the second part of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, during the Virtual Safety Car period, a decision that Red Bull boss Christian Horner described as being “lucky” for his team.

Max Verstappen has a solid lead ahead of Charles Leclerc when the virtual safety car was deployed as a result of the crash between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly, when the 2021 F1 world champion had just passed the pit lane entrance. However, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were not called in for a fresh set of tyres.

In an interview after the 2022 Miami Grand Prix, Christian Horner confirmed that the Italian side’s decision not to pit one or both of its drivers and attempt Red Bull to respond or risk ending the race with old tyres could have allowed Ferrari to fight for the race win at the Miami International Autodrome:

“We got lucky,” Christian Horner said, as reported by Sky Sports. “Max had crossed the pit line while it was a VSC. Then your worst nightmare… it went full Safety Car and that gives Leclerc and Sainz a free stop. Thankfully they missed it with both of their cars,” her continued, “so we were effectively still on the same strategy, or they would have had a significant advantage. We were let off the hook by Ferrari just through timing,” he admitted. “They could have put a soft on and they had a free stop. That’s the frustrating thing. You just don’t know when it’s going from a virtual to a full and that’s your risk at the front of the field. Thankfully it was all neutralised.”

“I would have lost position to Checo,” said Carlos Sainz when asked about the call not to change the tyres with a fresh set of softs – “You want to keep track position, especially if you’re on the podium, you want to keep that position. Our alternative was I use soft or a new hard, which for me, both of them were not good enough for 10-12 laps to go. So we were better off staying out on a used hard, which I think was the right call because in the end we managed to keep him behind.” – he explained.

“We believe that, in terms of format, our used tyres would have been stronger to a new one,” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said at the end of the race – “So we decided simply to stay out because we believe that was the best chance for us to have a good warm up and try to attack in those first laps, which is what happened.

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“I was not very happy when the safety car came out,” admitted Max Verstappen, “but these things happen and they have helped me in the past in some races so you can’t complain. In the restart we went for it again. Initially I was struggling with cold tyres, I didn’t have the grip, but as soon as they came up to temperature I could pull away a little bit.”

“Once Charles was in the DRS we couldn’t shake him off,” added Christian Horner, “and for Max, it is so much pressure in that position. It is easy to just lock a wheel, but he kept it clean and didn’t make any mistakes. Then it took five or six laps to break the DRS and he was able to manage it from there. The problem was the DRS was so powerful, they were able to close in on that first section and then we couldn’t drop them on the rest of the lap. Finally I think Charles had a little moment and Max was able to use it and broke the DRS and was able to build a lead.” – the Red Bull boss concluded.