Binotto: Sainz pit stop was 'proper and right' choice

Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto defended the team's decision to pit Carlos Sainz amid the latter's tight fight with Red Bull's Sergio Perez in the final part of the French Grand Prix.

A strong recovery drive from last on the grid had carried Sainz all the way into the top five by mid-race when the Scuderia charger engaged in a fierce battle for third with Perez.

With 12 laps to go, the Spaniard eventually got the measure of the Red Bull driver, but simultaneously his team called him in for a final pit stop.

Sainz dismissed the first call but duly pitted a lap later, a stop during which he also executed a five-second penalty that had been imposed on him for an unsafe release earlier in the race.

Ferrari's decision to pit Sainz left many scratching their head, as allowing the latter to press on for the remaining 11 laps - even on his worn medium tyres - to try and build a five-second lead and target a podium finish seemed like a risk worth taking.

• Read also: Sainz dubious over late pit stop call – but trusts team's numbers

Indeed, after the race, Sainz himself was ensure his team had made the right, although he did give the Scuderia the benefit of the doubt.

"To play it safe we knew that P5 plus fastest lap was good points," he said. "In the moment, maybe my feeling was different. We'll never know what would have been the best."

But Binotto was adamant that his team's strategists had made the right choice by factoring in the level of degradation of Sainz's tyres and the impact of his five-second penalty.

"I think that, as far as the choice we made, it was the proper and the right one," said the Scuderia boss.

"I think that Carlos from the cockpit did not have all the information, so for him it was difficult to judge. But no doubt, I think we made the right choice."

The call was first and foremost determined by tyre degradation insisted Binotto. And the risks of losing it all simply outweighed the chances of achieving a better result than fifth.

"First, we were trying to extend his stint as much as possible to have the best fit on the tyre life, to make sure at least we were not overshooting.

"But as soon as we got all the information, which was required, we realised that there was not sufficient tyre life to go to the end of the race. As simple as that.

"To stay out would have been a risk in terms of safety and reliability in terms of tyre life. So we had to stop.

"More than that, I think that the pace of Carlos would not have been sufficient to open the gap more than five seconds to Perez and [George] Russell, somehow, to cover the five seconds penalty.

"So it was right to stop. Also by doing that we had the fastest lap of the race, which still was a point, an important point for the team and for Carlos."

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