Carlos Sainz won his first ever F1 race in Silverstone, but may not have done so had he listened to the Ferrari strategists.
There has been a lot of debate over whether Sainz refused to follow team orders in Silverstone. He won his first F1 race, but his teammate Charles Leclerc suffered another disastrous weekend, where the gap between him and Max Verstappen could have been reduced.
Leclerc was visibly the faster man on track, and could have very easily overtaken Sainz on the final laps. However, a Safety Car brought out after Esteban Ocon’s DNF changed the race. All the frontrunners pitted for softs, but Ferrari left Leclerc out for some reason.
This meant he was in P1, but Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were behind him on fresh soft tyres. Right before the restart with 11 laps to go, the Ferrari team asked Sainz to maintain a 10 car lengths gap to Leclerc, because they wanted him to hold off the drivers behind him.
The Spaniard refused to do so, and demanded that the team “stop inventing things”. He let his frustration out on the team radio, and insisted he would go for the win being the fastest man on the track.
Was Carlos Sainz right in refusing to follow Ferrari’s team orders?
Since the start of the season, team principal Mattia Binotto has insisted that the Scuderia don’t have a number 1 driver. According to many fans, this strategy will bite them back, as they have to put one ahead of the other.
In an interview after the race, Sainz insisted that if he had followed the team’s strategy, no Ferrari driver would have won the race.
Helping Sainz score his maiden win to boost his confidence > supporting Leclerc’s maiden WDC fight to bring the title back to Maranello
There is no way the tifosi will accept that these were Ferrari’s priorities in Silverstone and Monaco. And yet.
— sara (@_allthatglitz) July 5, 2022
“At one point we switched positions when we were overcut by Lewis,” he said. “Then they asked me to do this 10 meter. But I tried to explain to them I had behind probably the fastest man on track today. If he passes me, Charles is gonna be dead meat also, no?”
Ferrari’s strategy, in particular towards Leclerc has been criticized heavily. The Monegasque has not been on an F1 podium since the Miami GP. Ferrari’s decision making is huge reason why.
Also read: Some Ferrari members refused to celebrate with Carlos Sainz at the British Grand Prix
