Formula 1: Ferrari admit not pitting Charles Leclerc was a mistake

Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto admitted that not having Charles Leclerc pit for tires toward the end of the 2019 Formula 1 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, was a mistake.

In his first Formula 1 race driving for Scuderia Ferrari and of the 2019 season, the Australian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was running in fifth place and hunting down teammate Sebastian Vettel in fourth, as he was consistently turning laps that were roughly one second quicker than those of his four-time champion teammate.

But as the 21-year-old Monegasque caught the 31-year-old German as the laps wound down in the 58-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.296-mile (5.304-kilometer) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit road course in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, he was ordered by Ferrari not to pass Vettel and instead increase his gap to him.

As a result, many fans believed that Ferrari should have Leclerc come into the pits for new tires so that he could attempt to record the race’s fastest lap and receive the one bonus point that comes along with doing so.

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This move would have made a lot of sense, as the driver who was running in sixth place at the time, Rich Energy Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, was nowhere near Leclerc on the track, and even if Leclerc would have come into the pits, Magnussen still would have been nowhere near him.

Instead, Ferrari made what still seems like a terrible decision and left Leclerc out on the track simply to avoid the risk of having a poor pit stop, and he scored 10 points as a result of his fifth place finish while Vettel scored 12 points by finishing in fourth. With the Australian Grand Prix being the only race that has been contested so far this season, this is where these two drivers are currently positioned in the driver standings.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport recorded a 1-2 finish, with Valtteri Bottas winning the race and Lewis Hamilton finishing in second place, and Bottas scored the bonus point for recording the race’s fastest lap.

Mercedes have a 22-point lead (44 to 22) in the constructor standings over Ferrari in second place heading into the season’s second race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, at the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit road course in Sakhir, Bahrain.

Had Leclerc scored the one bonus point for recording the race’s fastest lap, he would have 11 points as opposed to 10 points in the driver standings and trail Bottas by just 14 points as opposed to 16 points for the lead of the standings, as Bottas would have scored 25 points in the race as opposed to 26.

Meanwhile, Mercedes would only have a 20-point lead (43 to 23) in the constructor standings as opposed to a 22-point lead, as Ferrari would have effectively scored a point that they did not score while Mercedes would not have scored a point that they did.

Now Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has admitted that the team’s decision not to allow Leclerc come into the pits for new tires in an attempt to recording the fastest lap and earn one bonus point for doing so was, in fact, a mistake and that they can learn from it. Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to GP Fans.

"“I’m pretty sure that at the end of the season the points will make the difference. We didn’t stop for new tyres with Charles, and we could have done it Australia. Why we didn’t? I think because at the very first race it was not our intention to take too many risks. Should we have done it? Maybe yes. Honestly, I think lesson learned, it would have been safe enough to stop him and try to go for it. We will learn from that and maybe next time we will stop it.”"

Will Ferrari take advantage of their opportunities to maximize total point gain in the future, or will they continue to focus more on mitigating risks, even when said “risks” really aren’t all that risky? The Formula 1 season is only one race young, so it is entirely possible that we could see scenarios involving both over the course of the next eight-plus months before it ends.