Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has defended his team for their pit stop mix-up when Charles Leclerc stopped for intermediates at the end of the opening lap at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Leclerc was one of the first drivers to come in at the end of Lap 1 at Zandvoort.
However, Ferrari weren’t ready for him, meaning he was left stranded in the pit lane for around 10 seconds.
Had Ferrari been ready, Leclerc probably would have been second behind Sergio Perez on track.
Still, he was running fifth when all the pit stops played out.
Speaking after the race, Vasseur wasn’t fazed by what happened during the pit stop.
“Yes, because the rain was in the last corner and he decided to pit,” he said. “It was a very late call, but I think it was still the right decision because we were in a much better position than before even with the six or seven seconds we lost in the pit lane.
“For sure, if you are 10 seconds behind or five seconds behind and you make the call, it is much easier. But I don’t have to complain about this because it was the right call.”
Leclerc himself echoed team boss Vasseur, standing by the decision to pit so late.
“I did call for it, in the last corner, so very late,” he said. “But obviously looking at the [weather] situation in the last corner I was very sure that even if we had lost five or six seconds at the pitstop, we would recover them during one lap easily.
“I expected to lose some time, we could have optimised it as a team just for the guys to be ready a little bit earlier in those types of situations, but apart from that I think it was the right choice.”
Keyword: Frederic Vasseur defends Charles Leclerc pit stop mix-up: ‘It was still the right decision…’