At some point in the season, Carlos Sainz was almost afraid of returning to the pits. Or at least his fears would have been justified. The list of problems that the Spaniard has encountered in changing tires is long and starts from Silverstone, when he stopped 12 ″ 3 in the pits, but there are also Hungary (3 ″ 8), Turkey (8 ″ 1) and Austin (5 ″ 6).
The United States Grand Prix was a turning point for Ferrari, with the Italian side’s Team Principal Mattia Binotto admitting the problem, making self-criticism and scolding the team to reduce errors in such delicate phases: “Carlos’ pit stop potentially cost us two places. It’s our Achilles heel this year, and we need to improve them” – said the Maranello team principal after Austin.
It is likely that Ferrari worked hard on the stops after Austin in order to limit errors in the race as much as possible. And the effects can be seen: Ferrari, during the triple-header made up of Mexico, Brazil and Qatar – has always completed the pit stops below three seconds (the threshold between a good and a critical pit stop). In Mexico City Ferrari had ed the third and fourth best performances on Sunday (2 ″ 33 with Carlos Sainz, 2 ″ 38 with Charles Leclerc); in Brazil it was even the fastest (2 ″ 21 with Charles Leclerc); in Qatar Ferrari made a double-pitstop, also getting a 2 ″ 29 with Carlos Sainz which earned the team the “silver medal”. If that’s the case, we’ll find out soon.
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