Ferrari didn’t go far enough in their efforts to use Charles Leclerc to hold up George Russell in their bid to claim second place in the constructors’ championship, says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
Red Bull were drawn into the fight between Ferrari and Mercedes over the runner-up position after Sergio Perez was given a five-second time penalty in the closing stages of yesterday’s race.
Leclerc made an audacious bid to help Perez stay ahead of Russell by letting the Red Bull driver overtake him at the beginning of the final lap. The Ferrari driver then attempted to delay the Mercedes driver enough that when Perez’s post-race penalty was applied he was relegated to third place between Leclerc and Russell.
Had Leclerc pulled it off, Ferrari would have scored enough points to beat Mercedes to second place in the constructors’ championship. However he did not delay Russell sufficiently, and the Mercedes driver beat Perez to third place by 1.1 seconds after the penalty was taken into account.
Horner pointed out Red Bull had used Perez to delay Lewis Hamilton successfully in the same race two years ago, and said Ferrari should have done the same.
“It was a logical thing to do in Ferrari’s position,” said Horner. “The problem is they only half-did the job.
“They let Checo through, but then didn’t – I think, as Checo’s demonstrated, in that sector of the circuit you can hold up quite a bit of time. So I think Charles needed to hold off George a little more to get that extra second.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
As the finishing positions in the constructors’ championship determine the pit garage layout at each race, Horner said the result “just means we’ve got a different neighbour next year.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff appreciated Leclerc’s decision not to delay Russell excessively.
“We knew that we had to be within five seconds of Perez,” he said. “But Leclerc was so far ahead that we didn’t believe that he could manage these gaps in order to maybe keep us behind.
“In the end, he could have pulled the handbrake on in the last sector and he didn’t. And I think that shows the character of a driver.”
Leclerc revealed he decided on the gambit “as soon as I was aware about the five-second penalty” for Perez. “Then I was asking constantly the gap between George and Checo.
“Then they told me that Checo had passed George, so I knew Checo was behind me and his best chance was…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…