Ferrari admitted that it “underestimated” the time loss in the pit lane with the stop that dropped Charles Leclerc behind other cars in Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Leclerc conceded that Ferrari’s decision to switch Intermediate tyres seven laps before a red flag contributed to him missing out on a potential podium result in Brazil.
The Monegasque was the first driver to detour into the pits on Lap 25, which lost him positions to eventual race winner Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly in the Alpine.
Both drivers, along with Gasly’s Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon, capitalised on Franco Colapinto’s Williams crashing on Lap 32 to change rubber during the stoppage.
But even prior to that, Leclerc’s advances had been hindered as he ventured back onto the track from his pit stop with Oliver Bearman and Lewis Hamilton right ahead.
However, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur concurred with McLaren counterpart Andrea Stella that boxing at that stage was a wise choice amid the worsening conditions.
“It’s a difficult Sunday, but I think overall it’s not a dramatic weekend,” Vasseur told media including Motorsport Week.
“It’s more on some choices that it was quite difficult to anticipate like the pitstop.
“Unfortunately, you can say at the end of the day if you stay on track [and] you are waiting for the red flag it’s the right call, but if you crash you look stupid.
“Honestly, these kinds of weekends are quite difficult to manage from the pit wall and the car.
“But it’s more the pace today and the set-up that it’s perhaps dramatic because the pace was really difficult.
“We were missing seven-tenths slower than [Lando] Norris at the beginning of the [final] stint and probably six or seven-tenths faster than him at the end.”
Leclerc pit stop timing not a ‘game-changer’
Vasseur has professed that Ferrari didn’t account for the snaking pit lane exit at Interlagos being slower to negotiate on a damp track, thus costing Leclerc more time.
But the Frenchman is adamant the one change that could’ve inspired Leclerc to a stronger result than his eventual fifth place was remaining on track until the red flag.
“We underestimated I think the loss in the pit exit,” he expanded.
“It was very, very slippery and he lost a couple of tenths and it was enough to lose the position.
“But I don’t think it was a game-changer because at the end we would have pit the lap after with the VSC.
“It was not a game-changer, the game-changer on the strategy would have been to stay on track and to wait for the red flag.”
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc pinpoints mistakes which cost Ferrari potential Brazil F1 podium
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