Ferrari F1 boss responds to Rosberg’s cutting ‘F3’ pitstop jibe

Carlos Sainz had been running third in Sunday’s grand prix at Zandvoort before a slow first pit stop ruined his race. Sainz was stationary in the pits for 12-seconds when Ferrari’s crew failed to have all four tyres ready and he subsequently tumbled down the order.

The Spaniard recovered to fifth by the flag but was demoted to eighth after being hit with a post-race time penalty for an unsafe release when he stopped under the late Safety Car. 

The drama prompted 2016 F1 world champion and Sky pundit Rosberg to suggest that F2 and F3 teams are better at pitstops and strategy than Ferrari.

"First, I think it is so easy to speak when you are outside [of the paddock]. It is easy to criticise,” Binotto said in response to Rosberg, who has been banned from the F1 paddock because he is unvaccinated. 

"But we will not change people: that is my answer to Rosberg. We have got great people and it has been proven that what is more important in sport is stability and that we make sure we are improving day-by-day and race-by-race.

"We have got great people in the team and I have no doubt on that. It takes years and experience for all teams to be at the front, and I think there is no reason why it should be different for ourselves."

Binotto said the mishap was caused by a late call to bring Sainz in during his early battle with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. 

"Yes it was a very late call to react to Lewis [Hamilton] with Carlos [Sainz]. It was too late a call," he explained. 

"But I know as he [Rosberg] should know as well because he is an experienced driver, that it is a lot easier to address those type of problems rather than the performance.

"The performance is what counts the most today in my view.”

What did Rosberg say about Ferrari? 

Rosberg was highly critical of Ferrari after a catalogue of high-profile mistakes and operational blunders made by the Italian outfit this year have allowed Red Bull and Max Verstappen to romp clear in both world championship standings. 

The most cutting dig from Rosberg came when he said he thought F2 and F3 teams would do a better job than Ferrari when faced with such scenarios. 

"Oh my goodness," said Rosberg. "Mattia Binotto keeps saying 'No, no, we don't need to make any changes, everything is going well'. 

“I mean when is the day coming? It's not possible. Even Formula 2 teams or Formula 3 teams do a better job at their strategy and pitstops than Ferrari.

"You go to the pits and there's no tyre there in a normal race? At some point they really need to start making some changes.”

After Ferrari let victory slip through their fingers at the Hungarian Grand Prix with questionable strategic calls, Binotto insisted there was no need for changes within the team going into the summer break.

But Rosberg believes the time has come for Ferrari to make “fundamental” operational changes within the Maranello squad. 

"Beyond that, also their car is just a little bit off the pace now, in the race especially,” he added. “We saw it at Spa, we saw it again here, they're starting to lose out. So they need to make sure they keep developing that car in the right direction.

"One of the things that people often say is that Binotto is a technician. So sometimes you might suggest that you need a joint-leadership team of one being the technician and one being the business manager and people manager.

"I don't know Binotto well enough, but in any case, he needs to be making some personnel changes there, because I feel it's just going wrong too much.

"When we're commentating we're just waiting for it to happen at the moment because we just know there's a next mistake coming from Ferrari very soon, and that's not good, so they do need to make some fundamental changes in their personnel or how people are working there."