"They literally followed the rules", "Safety car saved Ferrari"- Fans slam Ferrari boss over FIA was 'caught sleeping' remarks

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto previously commented on the decision the FIA took during the final laps of the Italian Grand Prix. The end of the race was disappointing for the Tifosi and Charles Leclerc.

Binotto went ahead and said that the FIA was "caught sleeping" while talking about the race ending behind the safety car and the drivers not getting even a single lap to race.

The internet lashed out at this, with some saying that it was better for the team, while others were happy they stuck to the F1 rulebook.

Here are some of the reactions:

"They literally followed the rules."

"Fact: The safety car saved Ferrari from a thrashing at the hands of Max and Red Bull... at their home GP."

"Might want to focus on his teams failures first."

"If Leclerc was in the lead, he would've had no problem with it."

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Binotto thinks that Ferrari had a shot at winning the Grand Prix

The issue that the team faced was Max Verstappen accelerating across the field. Although he started P7 due to a grid penalty, Verstappen was on the podium places right after the first lap. He started leading the race after a virtual safety car made Leclerc pit for medium tires.

After that, Verstappen dominated over the Monegasque, creating a massive gap between the two cars. Leclerc was called in to pit for the soft tires, to have a better chance at overtaking Verstappen. Since the team had nothing to lose, they would have ended P2 in both the scenarios.

Both the drivers had a 17 second gap, when Daniel Ricciardo suffered an engine issue and retired from the race in the final laps, triggering a safety car.

Most drivers, including both Leclerc and Verstappen, pitted in for soft tires and waited for the car to end to get some action going. But to add on to the bad luck, Ricciardo's car got stuck in gear and wasn't moving.

To remove his car, the crance had to be called, and it took even longer. The race eventually finished under the safety car.

The team believed that if the safety car had ended and there was a chance to race, then Charles Leclerc could have won Ferrari's home Grand Prix, but that did not happen.

Mattia Binotto pointed out the FIA's mistake, and hence made his comment. Charles Leclerc finished behind Max Verstappen at the end, and was the only Ferrari driver on the podium. Carlos Sainz fell behind George Russell (at P4) because of the same issue.