26/07/2022
NEWS STORY
Ferrari strategy director, Inaki Rueda reveals that the infuriating radio call to Carlos Sainz to pit at the exact moment he was battling with Sergio Perez was not what it appeared.
Hands up, all of you who screamed at their TVs as Ferrari effectively ordered Sainz to "box, box" at the precise moment he was finally passing Sergio Perez as they battled for third on Sunday.
Previously, the Spaniard had been arguing with his team over the rights and wrongs of making a second stop, a 5s time penalty imposed for the unsafe release at his first merely adding to the conundrum.
Told to stay out, the Spaniard battled with the Red Bull throughout the final section of the lap, then, just as he gained the advantage over the Red Bull and pulled ahead, came that infuriating voice telling him to "box, box".
As Charles Leclerc, might put it: "Nooooooooo!"
"The way the television production feeds the data to the viewers, it has a delay in it," explains Rueda in his team's Full Access video debrief. "In this case, you saw Perez and Carlos were fighting on lap 41.
"We were talking to Carlos, and we saw that Carlos could not overtake Perez on the back straight, and in turn 10 we actually called Carlos in.
"Of course he was fighting with Perez, he thought he would have him the lap after, and that's why he decided to say: 'Please don't come in, not this lap'.
"Now, you are watching the television live," adds Rueda. "That call came on the television feed at Turn 15, right after the pit entry: which is nonsensical, because do we call the driver so late he cannot actually react to our call?"
Sainz' countryman explains that having pitted on lap 18 of the 53 lap race, with the anticipated life of the medium being just 25 laps, going the distance was never an option, especially with that 5s time penalty.
"This actually changed our whole approach to that last stint," he admits, "because even though Carlos had managed to overtake Russell and Perez, he was never going to be able to open a five second gap on them having to nurse those medium tyres to the end.
"With this in mind, we decided to pit Carlos and make sure that he came back and got an extra point for the fastest lap."