Bernie Collins left questioning ‘two things’ Ferrari did to Carlos Sainz during Belgian GP

Follow us on Google Discover

Ferrari was left disappointed after Charles Leclerc failed to convert his pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix into a race win.

Leclerc was passed by Lewis Hamilton in the opening stages of the race, then later on George Russell ran a one-stop strategy and leapfrogged him in the pits, before a fast Oscar Piastri overtook him for the final podium spot in the closing stages of the race.

He was later promoted to the podium following Russell’s disqualification for having an underweight car, achieving his first top-three finish since his victory at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.

Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz finished the race in seventh place having started on the hard tyre and pitting twice for a set of mediums and then hards again for the final 16 laps.

This strategy put Sainz out of sequence with the rest, causing him to drop behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen having briefly led the race.

Former F1 strategist Bernie Collins believes Ferrari will leave Belgium with some question marks over their strategy when discussing it on Sky Sports F1.

Bernie Collins thinks Ferrari will ‘question’ two things after Belgian GP

Other than Russell, the only two other drivers to make the one-stop strategy work were Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Although the tyre degradation was high on the medium tyres throughout the race, the hard was a more robust race tyre that enabled drivers to push the stint lengths further.

Given Russell went 34 laps until the end on the hard, Collins believes the information Sainz will have gathered at the start of the race could have been beneficial to Leclerc’s race.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

“What Ferrari is going to question going forward is, Carlos Sainz was our race leader at one point because he hadn’t stopped near the end. He started on the hard tyre, he extended that stint and that was good information for Charles Leclerc to say the hard tyre is good. But at that point, Sainz was calling on the radio to say ‘Are you sure we are not on a one-stop?’ He could have extended that hard tyre even further,” said Collins.

“There would have been two things come out of that: Could he have made the one-stop work and where would he have finished? Probably just behind Russell but a lot closer in the fight. They pitted Sainz just before Hamilton and Leclerc got to the back of them. Then if they extended, they could have closed the gap to Hamilton and Leclerc slightly and the slow pit stop might not have made a big difference. So a few question marks for them in terms of how it panned out.”

Ferrari playing catch up to Mercedes and McLaren

It is the first time Ferrari has shown pace relative to their rivals since the Canadian GP after McLaren and Mercedes appeared to have overtaken them based on form.

Spa has historically been a successful track for Ferrari, having taken 18 wins as a constructor since the 1950s, but it was clear that they were still struggling to find performance.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Much of this has to do with Ferrari’s failed upgrades for the SF-24, which has seen a return of the bouncing phenomenon that makes it a difficult car to drive.

Ferrari held a test during practice for the Hungarian GP to see whether their floor was creating problems, while Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz claimed that Leclerc has been testing out radical setups in a bid to find more pace.

The Scuderia’s dip in form has also led to some in the F1 paddock believing that Hamilton had made a mistake switching to the team, just as Mercedes gets back to winning ways.