Nico Rosberg has questioned the future of Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto after the team’s latest set of blunders at Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc came third but his Spanish team-mate Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag down in eighth following two pit-stop howlers.
Sainz was stranded for 12.7 seconds when Ferrari brought out only three tyres for his opening pit stop.
Sainz penalised
The Spaniard was later handed a five-second penalty following an unsafe release when he pitted under the safety car.
Ferrari’s series of errors have blighted their campaign and they have not won a drivers’ championship since 2007.
Speaking ahead of the Prancing Horse’s home race in Monza this weekend, former world champion and Sky Sports pundit Rosberg demanded a change at the top.
Rosberg calls for changes
“Mattia Binotto keeps saying, ‘no, no, we don’t need to make any changes and everything is going well’, but when is that day going to come?” Rosberg said.
“Even Formula Two or Formula Three teams do a better job with their strategy and pit-stops than Ferrari do.
“Binotto is a technician, so it could be suggested that you need a joint leadership team - one being a technician and one being a business manager, a people manager.
“When we are in the commentary box, we are just waiting for a mistake to happen, and that is not good.
“So there needs to be some fundamental changes in their personnel, and how people work together there because it is just going wrong on too many occasions.”
Binotto responds to Rosberg
Responding to Rosberg’s stinging criticism, Binotto, who has been team principal since 2019, said: “My answer to Rosberg is that we will not change people.
“It is so easy to speak and criticise when you are out of the paddock. But we have got great people, and it has been proven that what is more important in sport is stability, and to make sure we are improving day-by-day and race-by-race.
“It takes years of experience for all teams to be at the front, and there is no reason why it should be different for ourselves.”