dialtone wrote: ↑23 Jun 2024, 21:54
That Sainz pitted with George shows the 2 are among the worst tire managers on the grid.
Charles did great but Sainz was just way too poor at it here.
That medium stint from Sainz was something out of a F2 driver's tyre managing play book. Not seen such a disaster class in tyre management since Piastri joined F1. And that's why he got put onto a hard tyre, no way he was stretching a soft 23-24 laps, his tyre management was tragic.
He took away the only strategy option the faster driver had to get a podium. If we matched Hamilton and Verstappen's strategy, which was certainly the plan until Sainz overtook Charles off-track. Not sure how that was cleared by the FIA, anyway. P3 was on. Leclerc was only 0.004s off the pace of Hamilton during the race. Sure, he had a tyre offset, but he lost so much time trying to extend that first soft stint. He was at one point 1.3 second slower than the driver who stopped early. That was the only choice after Sainz overtook.
He once again ignored the teams instructions to save the tyre at the start of the race, as in Austria 2023, almost took out both of them, again as in China 2024, and compromised Ferrari's strategy. All for what? To finish P6, still behind the guy he tried so hard to finish ahead of.
And you wonder why he is not an option for top teams. They all see him as a stop gap option. No one has long term plans for him other than back markers.
It's now becoming a serious concern and problem to have him on the team. If he qualifies behind Leclerc, he sure as hell will destroy both their races for his own benefit. He qualifies ahead, and you just bottleneck the car's potential.