Binotto blames car performance rather than tyre strategy for Leclerc's P6

Charles Leclerc was in a great position to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, but Ferrari placed him on the hard tyres when Max Verstappen pitted for the second time. Mattia Binotto blames the car performance rather than the decision to put Leclerc on the hards. 

Analyse required

Formula 1 now enters a four-week summer break. For Ferrari, Binotto wants to analyse the decisions made but suggests whatever tyre used by the team wouldn't have made a difference. 

"What happened will take a few hours and days to analyse. We didn't get the performance we expected. Soft, medium or hard, the performance of the car wasn't as expected. It was a lot cooler today than Friday. Today the car didn't behave well for the first time this season. We try to understand the reason. I think it was working but not as well as we were hoping for," Binotto told Sky Sports. 

Binotto goes on to explain why the team decided to put Leclerc on the hard tyres. "We knew that the hard tyre struggles to warm up. They wouldn't have been as fast as the medium for 10 or 11 laps. But then at the end, we believed they could've been fast enough to somehow to be in the race and have a good position. Overall, they didn't work as we expected because the car wasn't working as expected," he added. 

Binotto concluded the interview by saying he supports his team fully and didn't feel the need to make any changes to his personnel.