Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz suggest new tactic to beat Max Verstappen at Austrian GP | F1 | Sport
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have admitted Ferrari may try a new tactic to beat Max Verstappen in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. The Ferrari pair enjoyed a thrilling battle for second in the opening stages of the sprint, but this allowed Verstappen to pull away.
Earlier in the race, Sky Sports host Martin Brundle suggested Ferrari should have worked together to close in on the Dutchman. He said the pair could have swapped positions each lap and used the DRS as a slingshot to catch the Red Bull.
Instead, the intense battle left Leclerc around three seconds behind Verstappen with just over a dozen laps remaining. Leclerc had the pace to reel in Verstappen towards the end of the race but ran out of time to mount a proper challenge.
Leclerc commented: “We lost a little bit of time with the battle with Carlos. But it was fun, whether it would have been possible to do anything more without the battle I don’t think so anyway.
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“So, you just need to get close to him and put pressure. Tomorrow we have a good chance.” However, Ferrari have been reluctant to use team orders to decide the order this season.
At the British Grand Prix, Ferrari allowed the pair to battle on-track despite the threat of Lewis Hamilton fresher tyres. Leclerc also missed out on a bumper points haul in the championship battle last weekend after Verstappen suffered floor damage.
He dropped to fourth after Ferrari failed to pit him for new tyres during a safety car period towards the end of the race.
