Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says he turned away from the TV screens on the Scuderia pitwall in the final laps of the Austrian Grand Prix as throttle issues jeopardized Charles Leclerc's win.
The Monegasque was managing his lead over Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the race when a stuck throttle pedal put Ferrari's crews on high alert.
Leclerc reported that the "the throttle pedal feels a bit strange" when the race resumed after a late virtual safety car period.
But as he reeled off the laps with Verstappen just a handful of second behind, the problem appeared to worsen, with Ferrari's telemetry indicating a partially opened throttle in the corners, which ignited Leclerc's worries.
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"Not only a little bit stressful, very stressful," said Leclerc after the race.
"The throttle was really inconsistent and in the middle of the corner it would get stuck to whatever percentage.
"So in Turn 3 it was very, very tricky because that’s where you don’t want any more speed in mid-corner. But at the end we managed to get the car to the end, which is great."
But on the Ferrari pitwall, the drama in the final laps, which occurred after Carlos Sainz's spectacular demise due to an engien issue, was just too much for Binotto.
"I have to admit I was very nervous," said the Scuderia chief.
"I was disappointed as well for what happened to Carlos, but so nervous that I stopped watching the race in the last three laps!"
Ferrari had yet to investigate Leclerc's throttle issue, but Binotto suspected the troubles had been caused by a mechanical rather than an electrical problem.
"I think we need to confirm, [but] from what I heard on the initial feedback, it's more a mechanical one," said the Swiss engineer. "I cannot give you more details than that."
Assessing his team's performance in Austria, Binotto reckoned that tyre degradation had been the big differentiator between Ferrari and its Red Bull rival.
"I think in terms of pure speed, it's very similar, and qualifying is proving it," he said.
"I don't think there is much difference between the two cars, if any it was in terms of tyre degradation. In the Sprint, I think we had a bit more - let me say - advantage on tyre degradation.
"It was even more evident [in the Grand Prix], because we started putting pressure on Max at the race start, and forcing him to have more pace and degrading more the tyres."
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