Formula 1 champions Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button have criticised Ferrari’s handling of their drivers at the Russian Grand Prix.
In an agreement made pre-race, Charles Leclerc towed Sebastian Vettel on the run to Turn 2 at the start, losing the lead to his teammate in the process.
Once a Safety Car period was over for a first-lap clash involving Grosjean, Ricciardo and Giovinazzi, the Scuderia immediately look to execute the second part of the plan, which would have seen Leclerc put back ahead of Vettel.
Instead, the German resisted the calls and pulled out a lead over Charles later giving it up in the pit-stop phase.
“I find it very strange that he had to give the place back, Sebastian,” Button said on Sky Sports. “I think they’ve [Ferrari] overthought it personally because it looks like [Vettel] got a great tow, which is normal there.
“I don’t get why they had a deal in the first place. The best that Sebastian was ever going to do in that race was second.
“It’s such a strange deal to have. He wasn’t going to keep to the right and help Lewis out, they should have had a deal, that ok, you’re leading the race, you stick the left and help Vettel at the start.
“If he gets past, he gets past, Ferrari wins. It’s just a very strange situation to be in.”
Villeneuve’s criticism then focused on the radio calls during the race.
“I didn’t like how Ferrari managed the strategy,” he told Sky Italia.
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“They didn’t have to tell Vettel immediately to give the place back and then they spent the rest of the race thinking about how to get Leclerc back out in front and then karma punished them.
“Vettel was faster today and deserved to stay ahead.”
That “punishment” was the four-time world champion suffering an MGU-K failure with the resulting Virtual Safety Car allowing Lewis Hamilton to pit and keep the lead, eventually going on to take his fourth win in Sochi.
After the race, however, team boss Mattia Binotto acknowledged the situation could have been handled better.
“Maybe we have to be more precise before the races,” he said. “We will talk to them to review what happened at the start of the race.”