Max Verstappen had no trouble controlling Saturday’s sprint race after Leclerc and Sainz were locked in an intense battle for second in the opening laps.
On lap 6, Carlos Sainz managed to pass Leclerc at turn 3, but he over-braked and the Monegasque managed to regain his place and leave the Spaniard without DRS. From there, Charles Leclerc was able to shoot in the open air chasing the leader
After the race, Leclerc said the team cannot afford to repeat that battle if it wants to beat the Red Bull driver in Sunday’s race.
The Mercedes director said he thought “it’s actually a pretty good decision” to let them race, adding that team principal Mattia Binotto would have gotten “even more shit if he had imposed team orders”.
Wolff said: “It seems like a pretty good decision to me, they let them race. That was the only entertainment of this race. So it was good to see.”
“Now you can think if you are losing big ground against Verstappen when you are fighting for the championship, and maybe you have to take that into account. But in any case, as a team, you are always to blame whatever you do.”
“If you let them run, then everyone is going to say ‘well, you’re losing wickets to your main competitor,’ but if you don’t let them run you’re going to get even more shit for team orders at this point in the season.”
“So you’re between a rock and a hard place. I know what we would have done…but I won’t say.”
Binotto said that “the fastest car on the track is the one that has priority”, but admitted that he was “happy to see those two drivers fighting”.
He said: “By maximizing the team’s points, I’m sure we are maximizing the drivers’ opportunities and taking points away from the rivals. But the rival should not be Charles for Carlos and Carlos for Charles, but Max, Lewis and everyone else. “.
“That’s how we see it, the fastest car on the track is the one that has priority. We think with that, at this point in the championship, there are things we can do.”
“If later in the championship there is one of the two drivers who has a lot more opportunities, we will try to get top priority, but it is not the situation at the moment. So we have to deal with it.”
“Still, I’m happy to see those two drivers fighting. When there are team orders, everyone blames us because we could let them fight freely, and when we let them fight, they say we should have team orders.
“So what is done is always wrong, and I remember that 20 years ago, here in Austria, I heard the boos from the stands, because I was here. It is always delicate, and each one after the race knows how we should face the situations”.
“Once again what we’re trying to do is maximize the team’s points, which I’m sure is the right option.”
