"It was the right choice"- Ferrari boss backs 'brave' decision to pit Charles Leclerc towards close of Belgian GP

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has backed the team's decision to chase the fastest lap with Charles Leclerc towards the end of the Belgian GP at Spa on Sunday.

Just two laps from the close, Leclerc was brought into the pits to change for soft tires, as Ferrari targeted an extra point by clinching the fastest lap of the race. The Monagesque was overtaken by Fernando Alonso when he came out of the pits. Leclerc would overtake the Spaniard on the last lap of the race but missed out on the fastest lap by six tenths of a second.

To exacerbate maters, Leclerc was slapped a five-second penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pitlane by 1 km/hr. That meant he lost his final race position to Alonso, eventually finishing sixth. However, Binotto claimed that chasing the fastest lap was the right thing for Ferrari to do, highlighting the need to be 'brave' at times.

"I think we made the right decision because you need to be brave enough to try and be always the maximum, and there was the gap on Fernando (Alonso), said Binotto. "We knew it was very tight. We knew it was where he could have overtaken him with the new tyres. Maybe taking the DRS and getting the extra speed on the straight, so at the end, it was the right choice."

Binotto did add that the team needs to analyse why it didn't get the fastest lap at Spa, saying:

"We didn’t have the fastest lap – that’s another (matter). Maybe look at why. But I don’t think because there are any risks in the operation, you should not (do it)."

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc reflects on another disappointing weekend

Charles Leclerc reflected on what was another disappointing weekend for the team at Spa, as he lost further points to Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who won for the ninth time this season.

The Ferrari driver encountered trouble early on in the race when a visor tear-off forced him into an early pitstop. From that point, he was only playing catch up to the rest of the field. Leclerc said:

"We started well, then on lap 3, we unfortunately had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit when I was in P9. That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a difficult race. The feeling in the car was quite ok, but compared to our competitors, we were lacking pace. They made a huge step leading up to this weekend, and we have to work on closing the gap."

The Ferrari driver is now 98 points behind Verstappen in the championship as a title challenge is beginning to appear like a distant dream.