Mattia Binotto and Charles Leclerc along with Christian Horner and Max Verstappen talk about how F1 Spanish GP panned out for them.
What started on a good note for Ferrari and Leclerc in F1 Spanish GP, ended up in a disaster due to an apparent engine issue which they are to diagnose at Maranello on Monday. He had a comfortable lead and looked set for a win but for the DNF.
It came out of the blue and ended his race which cost him his points lead too. But the race wasn’t easy for Verstappen too as his DRS issues almost cost him a minimum second after he was stuck for long behind Mercedes’ George Russell.
The unfortunate luck for Ferrari played in the hands of Red Bull where they utilised strategy to get ahead of Russell and eventually Verstappen took the win to lead the standings. Reliability is still a concern for both of the teams as both have had issues in six races.
Here’s what Ferrari duo and Red Bull stated:
Binotto: “No, we don’t know yet about the issue. It has been a sudden power unit issue, certainly a serious reliability issue, but the power unit will be back in Maranello, it will travel during the night, and tomorrow morning we disassemble it. The season is still very very long, it’s only six races. We had an issue with reliability today, the turn off of Charles, and maybe to the end mistakes happen. We’ve seen this today, Max as well, DRS issues, whatever it happened as well yesterday in the quali in the last lap. So everything may happen and we don’t know what, that’s something you cannot predict, so it’s only something you can try to work well. The season is so long, being just in the title fight is great for us.”
Leclerc: “I don’t know anything more than what happened basically. I had no indications before and then it just broke, lost the power completely. So it’s a shame. In those moments I believe that there’s nothing else I can do but look at the positives and there are plenty this weekend. There’s the qualifying pace, the race pace and most importantly, the tyre management that has been a weakness in the last two races. I think we have definitely found something this weekend on that, so it gives me the confidence for the season. But on the other hand, we’ll look at this issue, and we cannot afford for this to happen many times during the season, so we need to find the problem.”
Horner: “Was not an easy race by any means that was a race of two halves, nothing really seemed to be working for us in the first half, we had an issue with the DRS on Max’s car and then he had that moment at Turn 4, a gust of tail wind and he did well to get through the gravel and rejoin. At the moment we decided because he was stuck behind George and the DRS was intermittently working we felt our best race was converting him to a three-stop. And as it panned out that was the preferred strategy.
“Verstappen was venting his frustration and there was a little road rage going on at that point which is understandable because he must have hit the button 50 times I think on one straight and that is something I think we need to get on top of. The pace in the car today was very strong and it was a shame for Charles, I think it would have been a really interesting fight that second half of the race. I’ve just got to shout out to Checo as well playing the team game today. They weren’t in the same race, their strategies were different, but they worked together fantastically well.”
Verstappen: “A bit of a race with two halves, because the first 30 laps were very frustrating for me, after I went off in Turn 4 first of all, which really caught me by surprise, because I didn’t feel like I was actually braking later or throwing more speed into the corner. But it was very gusty out there today. Like, one lap it felt all stable and then the next lap suddenly you could have more oversteer in places. So probably that caught me out, by surprise. So that was not ideal, of course. But then, of course, I dropped back behind George and Checo. Checo was so kind to let me by to try to attack George because I think already we were planning to do two different strategies as a team, at the time.
“But then as soon as I was attacking George, my DRS stopped working all the time on the main straight. So that was extremely painful. Like, sometimes it would open, like, almost halfway on the straight or not at all. So yeah, that made me stuck behind George for 20 laps solid. So it was a tough one. For the DRS issue, I’m pressing the button, but the system is not opening. So this is not working. So we really have to fix that. I mean, I could have shouted back on the radio something, but there is nothing you can do because I mean, I’m not stupid, once you get the light and the activation beep, then you press the paddle. If it doesn’t open, there’s clearly an issue.
“I’ve spammed it like 50 times at one point on the straight and it’s just not opening, so there was clearly an issue. I mean, I tried all different kinds of things, stay off the kerb, on the kerb, open it a tiny bit later but it was just broken – or like malfunctioning. So yeah, we clearly have an issue there on this wing. And for the Turn 4 off, I didn’t feel like there was any damage, I mean, there is, of course, gravel there. But I didn’t feel like I damaged the car, because once I was back on the track, the car felt like normal. So I was lucky there, of course.”
Here’s how F1 Spanish GP panned out