Mattia Binotto admits it was "difficult" to give team orders in China
F1 News
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has admitted that the decision to tell Charles Leclerc to let Sebastian Vettel past during the Chinese Grand Prix was "difficult." Ferrari have favoured Vettel due to his championship experience and have praised the way that Leclerc has handled the situation.
"Certainly it's difficult as a team to give the order," said team principal Binotto to Motorsport.com. "Because we understand the drivers, they need to battle to stay ahead as much as they can.
"It was certainly not an easy decision. I have to thank Charles. The way he behaved, it again shows he's being a good team player. But I think again there will be a time where the situation is simply reversed. As a team, we need to maximise the team points. In that respect, I think we did the right choice."
"I think what we tried at the time, we tried everything we could not to lose time on the Mercedes ahead and that was the only chance we got at the time. We tried, it didn't work. It was right to give the chance to Seb. As a team, we did whatever we could."
It will be interesting to see how much longer Ferrari will use team orders as Leclerc is looking like a very fast driver in his own right.