Ferrari: Mattia Binotto explains no to Charles Leclerc at end of Gp

Maranello-based team principal Binotto returned to the failure of Sainz and Leclerc to exchange positions

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto explained why the Maranello-based team did not give the go-ahead for the exchange of positions of between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in the finale of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Monegasque had clamored for the team order via team radio, but the race wall deemed the move too risky. “Reversing the positions would have been risky, because Charles had Alonso and Verstappen right behind him,” Binotto said. “Even more than that, however, we knew we were under investigation for what happened under Safety Car with Tsunoda.

“On that occasion we had received the go-ahead from race management, so we were quite calm, but without having yet received a definitive verdict on the matter it would have been risky to reverse the positions, because a five-second penalty for example could have resulted in Carlos losing more than one position. Therefore, for the Constructors’ championship it was better to keep the positions that the guys had accrued on the track.”