Sainz dubious over late pit stop call – but trusts team's numbers

Carlos Sainz wasn't sure in hindsight if his late pit stop in the French Grand Prix was the right call, but the Spaniard trusted that Ferrari's numbers didn't cost him a better result at the end of the day than his P5 finish.

At the outset, Sainz executed an impressive charge from the back of the field following his grid demotion due to an engine penalty.

The Spaniard had swiftly navigated his way into the top ten by lap 17 of 53 and then carried his team's hopes in the wake of demise of Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc.

But an unsafe release during his first pit stop yielded the promise of a five-second penalty that would need to be factored in at some point.

As the race entered its final tier, Sainz caught and battled Red Bull's Sergio Perez, the two drivers sparring wheel-to-wheel for several laps much to the fans delight.

But with 12 laps to go, Sainz was called in for a tyre change by the Ferrari pitwall, a belated call that he dismissed as he fought with Perez.

The Ferrari driver nevertheless stopped a lap later for a set of medium rubber, a halt during which he also took his mandated five-second penalty.

Rejoining the race in P9, Sainz had carved his way back to P5 by the time the checkered flag was brandished. But the Spaniard pondered what may have been had he pressed on.

"I believed that maybe at the time it was maybe better to risk it and stay out, and see what happens with the tyres, even if it was a medium tyre on the limit of its life."

• Read also: Leclerc owns up to costly French GP mistake and crash

Sainz believed that there was perhaps a chance to make his tyres last and snatch a podium – five-second penalty included but admitted when all was said and done that "we'll never know".

"My point of view was that if I couldn't pass Checo I would box, because I was P4 and there was nothing really going on. But the moment I passed Checo I was like 'okay, I'm P3, let's see if I can pull away five seconds and make it to the end with these tyres'.

"At that stage, our numbers said that it was impossible to make it to the end, plus the five-second penalty, you risk even losing position to Fernando [Alonso].

"So, to play it safe we knew that P5 plus fastest lap was good points. In the moment, maybe my feeling was different, until I don't see the numbers then everything is impossible for me.

"We'll never know what would have been the best."

One certainty Sainz held however was the fact that starting last a win would not have been possible, regardless of his pitstop strategy of penalty.

"A podium position, I think with a perfect race we could have made it," he said. "The win, I think that Max was pretty fast and perfect out there.

"Yeah, it felt like a god recovery and fast pace. I think without the [grid] penalty, we would have started on pole or on the first row, the win would have been definitely possible."

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