F1 | Ferrari, Binotto: “We chose not to push”

Ferrari's performance in Qatar wasn't a great one. Sainz and Leclerc finished in seventh and eighth position at Losail, still achieving the goal of finishing the race ahead of the McLarens, even if the Woking team was unlucky with the puncture suffered by Norris at the end. Mattia Binotto, team principal of the Rossa, admitted how the drivers managed the tires practically from the start of the race to avoid wearing the tires too much.

“A result that must be judged from a championship perspective – comments Binotto – and therefore it should be seen as a further step forward towards achieving those objectives that we have set ourselves in this season finale. We knew that on this track we could be in difficulty with tire wear, as we had been at Paul Ricard for example, and we therefore asked the drivers to always be very cautious when driving, without taking any risks and trying to aim for a one-stop strategy. It was a conservative choice but one which, in light of what happened in the finale, paid off. The team worked well, in certainly not easy conditions given that this was the third consecutive race. The mechanics were excellent, both in replacing Charles' chassis on time, thus avoiding a grid penalty, and in making two good pit stops a few seconds apart from each other. Now let's try to recover some energy and try to finish the season in the best possible way."