Mattia Binotto has praised Ferrari's "fantastic" strategy team after they engineered a tactical 'dummy' radio call to trigger a Sergio Perez pit stop in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez were battling for the runner-up spot in the championship going into the finale level on points, but the Ferrari driver was behind following the first round of pit-stops. He was closing in on Perez and on Lap 34, was told to "box, opposite Perez." Perez and Red Bull bought this bait and covered Leclerc off, who then moved onto a one-stop strategy – setting up a thrilling chase, with the Mexican falling just 1.3 seconds short. In a year littered with multiple Ferrari strategic errors – including in Monaco, Britain, Hungary, Belgium and Brazil for Leclerc – team boss Binotto was quick to praise the under-fire department.
Binotto praises Ferrari strategy
"We were flexible with both drivers because we knew it would have been somewhere in between the one or the two [stop strategy]," Binotto explained to media, including RacingNews365.com. "Charles had a bit more margin on the cars behind and could save more of the tyres which gave him the benefit to go for the one-stop. "It was great to see the team being flexible in choosing one driver [to go on the one-stop] and the second [on a two] to optimise the race results. "The dummy call on the Red Bull was fantastic. "Certainly we did a proper job, and overall, we made it right so I'm happy for the team. "When Ferrari has been making mistakes, there is always a lot of criticism, but I know that these guys can do very well."
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