Penalty fear behind Charles Leclerc team order denial at Interlagos | 2022 F1 Brazil GP. Ferrari concede penalty fear behind Charles team order denial.

Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has provided details regarding the main reason which determined the Italian side to reject Charles Leclerc’s request to change places with teammate Carlos Sainz in the final laps of the 2022 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

The Ferrari drivers had a great recovery race in Sao Paulo, finishing third and fourth, behind the duo of Mercedes, who took their first win of the season with George Russell, reducing the gap to the Italian side in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.

While swapping places between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc would not have affected the Maranello team’s total number of points in Brazil, a third place finish for the Monegasque driver would have allowed him to have a small advantage over Sergio Perez ahead of the final round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the two battle for second place in the Drivers’ standings and arrive at the season finale level on points.

As Mattia Binotto pointed out, such a move represented a big risk to the Maranello team not only because Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen were close behind the Monegasque, but mainly because Carlos Sainz was under investigation due to a confusion regarding AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda unlapping himself behind the safety car.

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“Swapping the two cars on the last straight was certainly tricky because Charles had got Fernando and Max [Verstappen] just behind.” – the Ferrari boss explained – “So certainly, it would have been tricky and dangerous. But more than that, we knew that we were under investigation for what happened behind the safety car with Tsunoda. We were cleared by race control at the time so we were quite comfortable at the time but without having a conclusion on that matter, it would have been risky because five seconds penalty would mean that then Carlos would have been losing more than one position. For the constructors’ championship, it was certainly better to stick with the positions and the gaps on track.” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto concluded.