Former Aston Martin strategist and Sky Sports F1 analyst Bernie Collins has argued that Ferrari’s decision not to pit under virtual safety car conditions during the Australian Grand Prix will raise questions.
Ferrari had a strong start to the race at Albert Park. Charles Leclerc took the lead from polesitter George Russell at the start and both the Monegasque driver and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton applied pressure to the Mercedes driver in the opening laps.
But on lap 12, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar stopped on the side of the track due to a technical failure. While Mercedes, and the majority of the grid, made the most of the VSC conditions to pit, Ferrari opted to keep both drivers out. “At least one of us should have come in!” Hamilton said over the team radio.
On lap 19, Valtteri Bottas retired from the race and caused another VSC, but the Maranello outfit still stayed out.
“Lewis Hamilton was quite strong on the radio, particularly for that first VSC saying, ‘Why didn’t we do one car at least?’ I was surprised actually, initially, that Mercedes stacked because they were quite close together, but they were pretty confident in what they wanted to do,” Collins told Sky Sports F1.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“And then at the second VSC, well, I tried to go through the numbers quickly. Charles Leclerc was just at the safety car line when it was released, and Lewis Hamilton was a bit further back. But the yellow flag had been out for 19 seconds at that point. So potentially for Lewis, there was time for Ferrari to react. And that’ll raise some questions there.”
Russell went on to win the first race of the season with his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli joining him on the podium in second place and Leclerc rounding out the trio.
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