F1 | Ferrari, Mattia Binotto: “I stopped watching the race in the last laps”

The Italian anthem sounds loudly again from the top of the Red Bull Ring podium, just a week after Carlos Sainz's triumph at Silverstone. Charles Leclerc returns to winning, exactly three months after Melbourne, while the hopes of a double and another podium for Sainz literally go up in smoke a few laps from the end. Ferrari plays strategically, taking advantage of the experience of the Sprint Race on Saturday: Leclerc attacks immediately this time, puts pressure on Verstappen, inducing him to immediately return to the pits, while the Monegasque can extend his stint. The overtaking against the world champion was nice, the other two were easier, with the Red Bull obviously having balance problems. It's a shame for Sainz, who parks the car which is literally on fire, causing considerable concern on the subject of reliability. Problems also for Leclerc, who ultimately finds himself struggling with the accelerator pedal, open to full throttle in the last ten laps. Despite this, Charles returns to triumph and is now only thirty-eight points behind Verstappen. Ferrari returns to win in Spielberg after nineteen years, when Michael Schumacher stood on the top step of the podium.

"I think there are many positive points today, first of all the victory: good for Charles, it was important for him, he had a fantastic race. It's the second consecutive victory, Silverstone and now Spielberg and this gives us hope for the next ones – said team principal Mattia Binotto at the end of the race – I think the whole team worked very well this weekend, preparing the car, balancing it and then we saw the excellent race pace and the wear of the tyres, the pit stops of the mechanics: a nice combination that makes us smile. The painful part is Carlos' retirement: sorry, it would have been another potential double and we didn't succeed. We are not yet sure about the reliability side, we will have to work on it even more. We will analyze everything, try to understand and find a solution in the short term.

"We didn't expect to be so competitive: yesterday we thought we had something more than our rivals, but not that much. Conditions can change, the drivers prepare themselves, they try to understand how to exploit the tires: this is what Charles did with the management of the average in the Sprint, he understood that he had to immediately put pressure on Max from the first lap, force him to wear out the tires , a right choice also resulting from analyzes and discussions with the engineers. I'm glad a good job was done – continues Binotto – we had two cars capable of carrying out this job, we wanted to diversify the strategies, but Max brought his stop a lot early, for us it was important to get Max out of the two-stop window. We succeeded with both cars, but the bitterness remains for Carlos, it could have been a one-two, but let's not forget that it is the second victory in a row, the team is working well and we have to keep the motivation high. We will be aggressive in the next ones too. 

"I have seen growth: I think both drivers are growing, the car is balanced, it is docile with the tyres, not always, but this year we see changes at every race. Sometimes we have an advantage, sometimes we don't and we will continue to work hard. I stopped watching the race in the last laps, I just heard the engineers start with Charles and I just hoped he would finish” concludes the team principal.