Not an optimal choice
On lap 11 of the Australian GP Isack Hadjar was left stranded by Red Bull due to an obvious engine problem. At that moment Charles Leclerc was the race leader with half a second ahead of George Russell, around a second and a half ahead of Lewis Hamilton and two and a half seconds ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Commissioners therefore presented the Virtual Safety Car And Mercedes was quick to call the two drivers back to the pits, unlike Ferrari. Both teams ultimately opted for the one stop, thus making the Mercedes move super effective, as it put Russell and Antonelli ahead of everyone without having to overtake.
For Ferrari there was added misfortune, because on lap 19 the second VSC exposed for the pit stop did not allow the Reds to change the tyres, given that the pitlane was closed because the Finn had parked right near its entrance.
What did the Ferrari drivers say?
Already during the grand prix, Lewis Hamilton he had seemed rather doubtful of the team’s choice. A thought also reiterated after the race: “We will analyze. Our tires were certainly still good at the end of the GP and we could have stopped earlier. It would have been a free pit stop. I think with the first VSC we should have made the pit stop“, he explained to Dazn Spain.
During the press conference reserved for the top3, Charles Leclerc he has no regrets: “I don’t regret it, ours was a deliberate and conscious choice. From FP1 to today there has always been at least one car that stopped in every session. We knew that there would be high probabilities and that the first one would not be the only VSC. So we thought it would be better for us to wait for another one. Obviously it’s always a gamble. Afterwards there was a VSC at a good time, but unfortunately the pitlane entrance was closed. We were a bit unlucky, but it was a conscious choice and I don’t regret it.”
Team principal Frederic Vasseur cut it short: “I don’t think anything would have changed“.
