Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has confiremd that the Maranello team did not intend to determine Red Bull Racing to pit Mexican driver Sergio Perez while in the lead of the 2022 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit last weekend.
As Sergio Perez was running in P1 after a strong start from pole position, Scuderia Ferrari considered attempting an undercut with Charles Leclerc, who was catching up with the Red Bull driver thanks to slightly better tyre management for the F1-75 car. After 15 laps, the Maranello team seemed ready to call Charles Leclerc in, as the pit crew appeared in the pit lane while the Monegasque driver was instructed to “box to overtake”, which would indicated the Italian side did in fact want to undercut Sergio Perez.
The Austrian team quickly responded to counter Ferrari’s plan and Sergio Perez was in fact the first into the pits on that lap, while Ferrari informed Charles Leclerc that he should do the opposite to his rival, in an attempt to go for a different strategy. The Monegasque driver therefore took the lead at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and was given a huge opportunity just a few moments later: the Safety Car was deployed due to Nicolas Latifi’s crash which meant the Ferrari drivers, as well as Max Verstappen, were all able to pit under the Safety Car and join the track ahead of the Mexican.
In retrospect, Scuderia Ferrari’s decision seemed to be a masterstroke, but the question remains whether the mechanics appearance in the pits, alongside the radio messages sent to Charles Leclerc, were in fact actually bait to get their rivals out of the way.
Charles Leclerc explains that was not the case: “No, no. We were ready to pit,” he said at the end of the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – “I mean, yes, we basically went for the opposite to Checo [Perez] in front, and he boxed that lap, so yeah, I think we did the right choice.” – Charles confirmed.
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Ferrari’s plan was therefore to go longer than its rivals once Red Bull decided to pit Sergio Perez and the Monegasque later confirmed that he had been quite happy about his pace on the Mediums as the first stint wore on, which means that he would have been to go faster once Sergio Perez was out of the way: “I think we did a great job by managing those Mediums, because it wasn’t easy following Checo. But, towards the end, we actually had quite a good pace on those Mediums.” – he concluded, after P2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
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