Despite having the fastest car on the grid, Ferrari has had a rollercoaster performance throughout the first stint of the season. With Charles Leclerc having 3 DNFs and Carlos Sainz having 4 DNFs, Juan Pablo Montoya defends Mattia Binotto and says the Ferrari team boss is not to blame for their strategy mishaps.
Juan Pablo Montoya told Las Vegas Insider: “Mattia is not the guy with the strategy. Everybody blames him, but he’s not the one. “
“I don’t think he would be the one saying, ‘Oh, let’s put the hard tyre on.’ That is why you have strategists, and that is why you pay top people to make those decisions.”
“In Red Bull, it is not Adrian Newey or Christian Horner making the decisions. It is the strategists that are making the decisions.
Montoya believes people then proclaim the bad performance of the team as Binotto’s responsibility.
Montoya however acknowledged that the Ferrari F1-75 is a fantastic car but believes the Maranello based-outfit is not putting it to good use: “I think Ferrari has the fastest car but, still, they are just not using it.”
The former F1 driver went on to explain how crucial drivers rely on the information from the cockpit in reference to how both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have been let down by their strategy team: “You know how they are.” Frequently, they don’t even know what tires to put on the car.”
He added: “During the Monaco Grand Prix disaster, Sainz defied the pit wall. Don’t take the risk if the weather doesn’t appear to be too wet. “Just like in Monaco, when you come in and he comes in, we take the risk.”
