Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has urged his team to "keep smiling" after they endured a painful race on home soil at Imola. Having narrowly missed pole position and the Sprint race win with Charles Leclerc, the Scuderia were outclassed by Red Bull during Sunday's main event. Leclerc was swamped at the start as he lost out to Sergio Perez and Lando Norris, while Carlos Sainz retired on the spot after being tipped into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo. From there, Leclerc recovered to third but could not find a way past the rapid Red Bulls, prompting a late strategic gamble to switch to Softs, which led to more drama when the Monegasque spun and damaged his car.
Ferrari's podium-finishing run ends on home soil
Leclerc managed to salvage sixth position after pitting again for repairs and passing a handful of rivals, but could not prevent Ferrari's early-season run of victories and podium finishes from coming to an end. As a result, Leclerc's title lead has been cut from 40 points to 27, with race winner Max Verstappen now his nearest rival, while Red Bull have closed to within 11 points of Ferrari in the Constructors' battle. "Obviously, we are a bit unhappy for the results of today," Binotto told Sky Sports F1 as he digested proceedings. "I think we need to keep [our] heads up. It's part of racing; some races may go wrong and it has been [that way] today. "But I think we've still got a competitive package, [so] I think we need to keep the smile on and look forward to the next races."
Why did Leclerc pit for Soft tyres?
Binotto then explained why Ferrari opted to pit for the Soft tyre stint that proved to be Leclerc's undoing. "It was was not necessary for tyres and we didn't do that for the fastest lap [bonus point]," Binotto made clear. "We simply did that because we thought it was the best option for us, to try to have some opportunity. "We knew that maybe Red Bull would have reacted, so we would be again resetting on the new tyres. "I think Charles was attacking Perez at the time, so I think it has been the right choice to pit, and to try to create that situation, but obviously he made a small mistake. "Again, it's something that may always happen and we should not be disappointed."
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