The Formula One 2022 season has seen Ferrari blow a significant lead over Red Bull after the third round of the season. Charles LeClerc has suffered two power unit failures whilst leading races, but Ferrari strategy has also been called into question.
Again leading the race in Monaco the Red Team botched Charles LeClerc’s pit stop strategy allowing both Red Bull’s and his team mate to overtake him during the tyre change phases.
Having secured another pole position this season with Carlos Sainz at Silverstone, Ferrari need to have their strategy options ready for today’s race.
With their drivers P1 and P3 sandwiched by Verstappen and Perez, the pit stop calls will be vital as will the tyre choices.
The Red Bull car has been more forgiving on the tyres in 2022 than the Ferrari and the one stop or two strop strategies at Silverstone have equal merits.
Having secured pole position Ferrari team boss revealed, “Coming here to Silverstone in such difficult weather conditions, a difficult track, being P1 and P3, it is a great result that shows that overall, the team, the drivers and the car can be competitive.”
Yet with limited high fuel running Ferrari have no idea how their tyre degradation will be “during the race.
“We will stay focused on the race. The strategy – one or two pit stops? No idea. Which tyres to choose? Again, no idea,” admitted Mattia Binotto
“There could be different scenarios out there, and tyre management, we know here the front-left is always an issue with the amount of energy.”
The Ferrari team boss’s comments suggest the team strategists have no consensus on which is the best way to approach the British GP, which should be a concern for the Tifosi world wide.
Surely Ferrari need to take control and pit before Red Bull thus avoiding the undercut, something the Milton Keynes team have done masterfully at several races.
Binotto praised his Spanish driver’s efforts in delivering pole, “It’s well deserved, he’s getting more and more confidence in the car. He had a good weekend in Canada but the quali was not so great.”
“Getting the confidence, you stay calmer and the fact he has pole is because he stayed calm in difficult and tricky conditions where you need to keep the temperature in the tyres and get the right moment with track condition etcetera.
“And being patient, being there at the right moment, it was a good lap.”
Carlos Sainz admitted he didn’t think the lap was good enough and was surprised to be starting today’s race in P1.
Clearly they had no idea, and then got Carlos during the race to decide on the team’s strategy!