Leclerc and Sainz praise Ferrari's Indian-British strategist after double victory in Austin
On the back of a sensational double victory for Ferrari at the United States Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have praised the Scuderia's strategy department for having achieved an impressive improvement after a series of mistakes in the past.
Ferrari locked out the second row on the grid for the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc setting the third and fourth-quickest lap in Saturday's qualifying session.
When the lights went green, both Ferraris had a great start from the second row, but Leclerc had the track position on the inside when the leading duo of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen ran wide. Although an early safety car meant that Leclerc had to defend hard from Verstappen at the restart, he was faultless as he disappeared up the track to take his third win of the year.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz complained about technical issues in the early stages of the race, but Ferrari managed to cure the problem with a tweak to the setting. The Spaniard managed to undercut Verstappen in the pit stops, and then was also able to pull away for to Ferrari’s second 1-2 of the season.
After the race, the pair was accompanied on to the podium by Ferrari's Head of Strategy, Ravin Jain, who replaced former chief strategist Inaki Rueda after a series of blunders in the 2022 Formula 1 season.
As an Indian descent, Jain graduated from King Edward's School, Birmingham. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Physics and a master's degree in Mathematical physics, both from University of Oxford.
Jain had several summer placement experiences with multiple Formula team, including Caterham and Williams. He joined Scuderia Ferrari as a mathematical modelling enginner in 2016, and worked as that title for six months before moving to a new role as race strategy engineer in 2017. He was appointed as the head of strategy by the team principle Frédéric Vasseur in 2023, replacing Iñaki Rueda.
Asked about Jain's role at Ferrari, Leclerc noted: "I mean, he's incredible. I have really a lot of trust in Ravin. He's done an excellent job. He's pretty young, too, for a position like that. But he's always super, super calm.
"And that's really needed. And yeah, he also manages the emotion super well, which maybe in the past was probably one of our weaknesses, speaking of strategy. This has changed a lot with Ravin. And again, he's doing a really, really good job. So I think, yeah, we have a very strong track team at the moment.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz echoed Leclerc's words, claiming: "I think full credit for Ravin and all the strategy team for the progress that's been made in Ferrari over the last couple of years.
"I think it's been important to see progress in that side. And there's been a lot of work being done behind the scenes. And obviously, Ravin has played a fundamental role in that work. Like I've said many times, having a good car on race day always helps to make the strategy work. And I feel like this year, compared to last year, we have a very strong car on race day.
"The best example is today. A car that allows you to be the first one to box and still extend the Hard tyre and still be quick on the Hard tyre and not and not be because of being the first one to box, then degrading more than the others. That is something that I've struggled in the past, especially last year, a lot with that.
"And yeah, Singapore, I remember boxing in lap 14 of a 70-lap race or a 60-lap race and still making it to the end. With any other car or with any other year that we've had, were degradation and the car was weaker in the race, this wouldn't be possible. So making bold strategy moves on race day wouldn't be as easy and you would look more crazy by doing them.
"And this year, having a car that degrades less the tyres and makes you more competitive on race day also allows you more flexibility and better opportunities to play with the strategy," concluded Sainz.
