‘F2 and F3 teams do a better job’: Nico Rosberg bemoans Ferrari pit lane confusion during Dutch GP

The Ferrari pit crew were not ready for Carlos Sainz during his first pit stop while he was later given a five-second penalty for an unsafe release

Nico Rosberg lambasted Ferrari’s pit wall after more errors during the Dutch Grand Prix, insisting “even F2 and F3 teams do a better job” than the Scuderia.

Carlos Sainz was the unlucky recipient of confusion among the Ferrari pit crew, with his first pit stop on lap 15 costing him at least 12 seconds after the crew were left scrambling to fit the Spaniard’s left-rear tyre.

To make matters worse, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ran over a loose wheel gun amid the mayhem and, later in the race, Sainz was left reeling once again as he almost collided with Esteban Ocon in the pit lane.

Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release, demoting him from fifth to eighth in the final standings and costing the Spaniard six World Championship points as Max Verstappen extended his championship lead to 109 points over Charles Leclerc.

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 world champion for Mercedes, could not believe what he was watching and told Sky F1 that changes needed to be made at Ferrari after a season overshadowed by botched strategy calls.

“Oh my goodness,” Rosberg said. “Mattia Binotto keeps saying ‘no, no, we don’t need to make any changes, everything is going well’. I mean, when is the day coming? It’s not possible [to carry on as it is].

“Even Formula Two teams or Formula Three teams do a better job at their strategy and pit stops than Ferrari. So you’re in the pit and there’s no tyre in a normal race. At some point they really need to start making some changes.”

Ferrari’s pit crew was left scrambling during Carlos Sainz’s first pit stop (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Rosberg added that Ferrari team principal Binotto needed to make “personnel changes” to avoid mistakes in the future, with their strategy previously criticised in Monaco and Budapest and reliability issues resulting in DNFs in Barcelona, Baku and Spielberg.

“Their car is just a little bit off the pace now as well in the races, especially at Spa, and we saw it again here,” said Rosberg. “So they are starting to lose out. They need to make sure they keep developing that car as well in the right direction.

“One of the things people often say is Binotto is a technician, so sometimes you might suggest you need a joint leadership team of one being the technician and one being the business manager and people manager. That’s what some people have been suggesting.

Nico Rosberg insisted ‘F2 and F3 teams do a better job’ than Ferrari (Getty Images for Greentech Festi)

“I don’t know Binotto well enough. But in any case, he needs to be making some personnel changes there I feel because it’s just going wrong too much. When we are commentating, we are just waiting for it to happen at the moment because we just know there’s a mistake coming from Ferrari very soon.

“That’s not good. So they need to make some fundamental changes, I think, in their personnel or how people are working together there.”

Rosberg added that Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto needed to make ‘personnel changes’ (AFP via Getty Images)