A third and fourth place finish for Scuderia Ferrari at the São Paulo Grand Prix has been credited to a “aggressive strategy” by Team Principal Mattia Binotto, after the Scuderia was able to recover from a number of set backs to take away a substantial points haul from the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
Ferrari’s race would get off to a disrupted start after Charles Leclerc attempted to overtake Lando Norris around turn six before contact from the McLaren F1 Team driver would send the Monegasque driver into the barriers. Able to avoid any terminal damage to his F1-75, Leclerc was able to continue, but a pit-stop for a new front wing would send the Ferrari driver to the back of the running order.
Carlos Sainz had in turn become the benefactor of Leclerc and Norris’ coming together. Sainz, who had been running behind Leclerc before the incident, would then pass his former McLaren teammate a lap later as they both headed into turn one.
With Sainz running up in the podium places by lap nine, his progress was soon halted as Binotto revealed that a tear-off from a helmet visor had got lodged inside a brake cooling duct on his F1-75, forcing the Spaniard into an early than planned pit-stop.
“Our race immediately got much harder right from the early stages because of Charles’ incident and, in Carlos’ case because a visor tear-off got stuck in a brake cooling duct on his car, which meant he had to make his first pit stop earlier than planned, while the mechanics dealt with the problem.“
Sainz and Leclerc were both able to recover from disrupted starts thanks to an aggressive three-stop strategy being adopted by both drivers. Both Ferrari drivers would also take advantage of Sergio Perez running on older medium tyres with ten laps to go, to propel themselves in to third and fourth place.
Binotto noted that the team’s twenty-seven point haul from the Autódromo José Carlos Pace could prove pivotal in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors’ Standings, as they look to fend of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and hold onto second place in the Constructors’ at next week’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“From then on, it was a case of attacking all the time and, thanks to an aggressive strategy and a great job from the whole team, we managed to finish third and fourth, picking up plenty of championship points that could prove vital going into the final round in Abu Dhabi. Now we are concentrating on ensuring we are as well prepared as possible for this decisive last race. My congratulations to George Russell on his first win.”
Credit: Scuderia Ferrari