Mattia Binotto Picks a Side Amid Tensions Between Ferrari F1 and Sebastian Vettel

For the second race in quick succession, Scuderia Ferrari endured a Grand Prix full of mixed fortunes. Charles Leclerc produced a stunning drive to finish P4 in an eventful but calculated race from the Monegasque.

Unfortunately, Sebastian Vettel’s troubles began after the first corner of the first lap.

Vettel’s first-lap spin was the reason behind the trivial war of words between the German and his team. While Vettel believed his race was compromised by poor strategy, Team Principal Mattia Binotto claims it’s because of his spin.

Binotto defends Ferrari

After his first pit stop, Sebastian Vettel called out Ferrari over its strategic misjudgment. The 4-time World Champion ended up performing a meaningless stint on hard compound tires for just 10 laps.

In the post-race interviews, Vettel explained how Ferrari did the exact opposite of the thing they desperately wanted to avoid. According to Vettel, the original plan involved doing everything to avoid the traffic that ruined Vettel’s race.

However, Binotto countered Vettel’s argument by pinning the blame on Vettel’s spin and not the team’s strategy. Speaking to Sky Italia, Binotto said:

“I honestly think there is little to say about strategies,” said Mattia, as quoted by PlanetF1.com.

“We [were early] perhaps by a few laps with the call that made him lose the position to [Kimi] Raikkonen. However, we knew he would recover without losing time.

“It allowed Charles [Leclerc] to continue his comeback. Overall, it was the right choice for the team and we don’t think we penalized Sebastian.

“He regained [the position] immediately on Kimi, he wouldn’t have been able to do an overcut on [Daniil] Kvyat, because he was going as fast as he was at that time, and then he undercut [Carlos] Sainz.

“His race was compromised at the start, and I think that was the key, not the strategy chosen.”

Ultimately, Scuderia Ferrari is not a happy camp, at least on Vettel’s side of the garage. As he continues to struggle with the SF1000, Leclerc seems to grow stronger with every race.

The Italian team heads to Barcelona, to a track that should be less unforgiving compared to Silverstone. F1 will go racing for the Spanish Grand Prix on August 16.

SOURCE- PlanetF1