Rarely in recent Formula 1 history has a team principal been seen to end up in the middle of fans and media criticism after a race victory as Mattia Binotto did after Carlos Sainz’s success last weekend in Great Britain. The reason is simple: many have not forgiven the Ferrari boss for the strategic management of Charles Leclerc’s race and the choice not to pit the Monegasque driver when the Safety Car entered the track in the final stages of the race at Silverstone.
Having left Charles Leclerc on the track with old hard tires, while calling Carlos Sainz to the box for new soft tyres, Ferrari offered the Spanish driver a great opportunity to secure his first Formula 1 win, and in fact Carlos took advantage of the fresh softs to overtake his teammate and go on to win the British Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc’s tire performance slump drop, apparently not foreseen by the Ferrari pit wall, further minimized the Monegasque driver’s gain over Max Verstappen, in a weekend in which the world championship leader was affected by problems and had to settle for P7.
The post-race reaction of Charles Leclerc, understandably very nervous with his team, seemed to the internal atmosphere of the Italian side even more. On Tuesday, Mattia Binotto went to Monte Carlo for a clarifying dinner with the young talent born in 1997. As Andrea Cremonesi underlined in an article for Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, however, the lack of unity in the team also seems to be underlined by the silence expressed by the company’s top management. Neither President John Elkann nor CEO Benedetto Vigna have in fact expressed words of support towards Mattia Binotto. Not the most reassuring sign, according to Gazzetta dello Sport:
“[…] Faced with the first success after almost three months, Mattia Binotto did not expect such a outrage, he observed with amazement and anger the reaction of fans on social media and the speculations on an alleged split between the side of Carlos Sainz’s garage and that of Charles Leclerc […]. The feeling, however, is that the team principal is a “man alone in command”. Although under attack, no one in Maranello felt the need to defend the decisions made on Sunday, not president John Elkann, not CEO Benedetto Vigna who was also in England. It would have been important at a time like this. Instead silence. And the rumors about Mattia Binotto’s job being under threat are increasing in the paddock[…].” – La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
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