Ferrari looked to make things very difficult for their own driver Carlos Sainz in France. According to the analysis of Auto, Motor und Sport the Spaniard was brought in eight laps late at his second stop.
Pit stop errors
Sainz was forced to start the French Grand Prix from the back of the grid after changing several engine parts, forcing him to make up a lot of ground. This the Ferrari driver did very well, overtaking a total of 16 times and finishing fifth.
According to AMuS Sainz' final finishing position could have been even better with better tactics from Ferrari. During his first pit stop Sainz was left standing for 3.7 seconds, which was already too long. After his long pit stop he was also sent off right in front of Alexander Albon, who had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting Sainz. It led to five penalty seconds for Sainz.
Second stop came too late
After much radio traffic between driver and engineer, it was decided to bring Sainz in for the second time on lap 42. This would have been eight laps too late. According to AMuS analysis, Sainz was no less than 1.7 seconds per lap faster in his final stint than the Red Bull Racing and Mercedes cars in front of him.
Had Sainz come in on lap 34, he would have been 28 seconds behind George Russell and Sergio Perez. Sainz would have had more cars in front of him, but he could probably have passed them easily. Had he maintained the pace of 1.7 seconds per lap with a pit stop on lap 34, he would have at least been on the tail of Russell and Perez with a chance of the podium.
