The street race in Las Vegas was held late in the evening, and this seems to have affected the alertness of the mechanics. Both Ferrari and Alpine were not ready when their drivers Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon came in for a pit stop. “We could have still battled with Hamilton,” Sainz lamented after the race.
Carlos Sainz was called in by Ferrari for a second pit stop, but had to stay out at the last minute. “What happened?” the Spaniard immediately asked over the team radio. “We were not ready yet,” came the reply from his race engineer Ricciardo Adami. “Wake up, guys, come on!” Sainz responded, clearly irritated.
After the race, the Ferrari driver explained how the miscommunication about his pit stop likely cost him a chance to fight with Lewis Hamilton for P2. “It just shows that you have to do things perfectly in this sport, weekend in, weekend out,” Sainz explained to Formula1.com. “We’ve done things very well in terms of strategy and race management all year, but today was not our day.”
Due to a late instruction from Ferrari to stay out, Carlos Sainz Jr. crossed the solid white line to re-enter the race track. However, the Ferrari driver was not penalized for his action, as he had not yet been in the pit lane when he crossed the line. According to the International Sporting Code, the rule only applies to cars “that have been in the pit lane” and they should not cross the white line “in any direction”.
Alpine Also Caught Off Guard
Alpine also seemed to be caught off guard when Esteban Ocon dived into the pit lane in lap eleven. The mechanics were still in the garage, causing the Frenchman to enter the pit lane in vain. Ocon pitted during the next lap. “Unfortunately, we gave ourselves an extra stop,” a disappointed Ocon explains. “A drive-through penalty, I would say. We as a team need to take a closer look at what exactly happened.”
