Ferrari’s gamble not to pit in Virtual Safety Car period was right call – Leclerc

Charles Leclerc defended Ferrari’s decision not to pit him during the Virtual Safety Car period during the Australian Grand Prix, despite losing his chance to win the race.

The Ferrari driver was at the front of the field when the first VSC period began on lap 11, followed by George Russell’s Mercedes. The pair’s team mates were close behind.

Mercedes took the opportunity to bring both cars in for their only tyre changes of the race. Ferrari kept both out, a decision which Lewis Hamilton challenged but Leclerc accepted.

Ferrari were unable to make their pit stops during the second VSC period as the pit lane entrance was closed. Both drivers pitted after the race restarted, before a third VSC deployment.

Because both Mercedes drivers saved time by pitting when the race was neutralised, Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli moved into the leading two positions where they finished. Leclerc took third, 15 seconds behind Russell.

However he said he accepted the team’s decision not to take advantage of the opportunity to pit during the VSC period. “I don’t regret it,” said Leclerc. “It was a wanted choice, a wanted and conscious choice.”

He said the team went into the race expecting there was a high chance of at least one stoppage causing an interruption.

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“Looking from FP1 to now, there’s been at every session a car that was stopped, at least one car,” he said. “We knew that there was a very high chance that this was not going to be the only VSC of the race, and so we thought that it was better for us to maybe wait for another one.”

Although a second VSC period did occur, the pit lane entrance was closed so marshals could safely push Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac into it.

“That’s always a gamble, of course,” Leclerc conceded. “We didn’t know that this would happen.

“The reality is we’ve had other VSCs after, and one which was particularly well-placed, but unfortunately for this one, for us, the pit entry was closed and we couldn’t take it.

“So we were a little bit unlucky on that side, but it was a conscious choice again and I don’t really regret it.”

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