Mattia Binotto snapped back at Nico Rosberg after the German's scathing criticism of his Ferrari team in the wake of another blunder.
After a season marred by mistakes, the Italians would have been desperate to get through the Dutch Grand Prix without making more headlines for all the wrong reasons. But that particular mission failed, thanks to another error in the pit lane.
Carlos Sainz's race went all wrong in the early stages, sustaining damage in an early tussle with Lewis Hamilton. But things really went to pot during a comically bad pit stop, as it soon became clear the call had been made while the team was unprepared.
When his engineers told the Spaniard to pit, the mechanics were not ready for him. So he was forced to wait in the pit box for 12.7s before he was given the green light to go again. And they were in such a rush that they left a wheel gun lying around, which was then run over by Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
Reacting to the latest in a long line of blunders, 2016 champion Rosberg said there are teams in the junior categories that have it together better than Ferrari. "Mattia Binotto keeps saying 'No, no, we don't need to make any changes, everything is going well'. When is the day coming?" he told Sky Sports.
"It's not possible – even Formula 2 teams or F3 teams do a better job at their strategy and pitstops than Ferrari. You go to the pits and there's no tyre there in a normal race? At some point they really need to start making some changes."
It seems the former Mercedes driver touched a nerve with team chief Binotto, as he responded snappily. "First, I think it is so easy to speak when you are outside [of the paddock]. It is easy to criticise," said the unimpressed Italian.
"But we will not change people – that is my answer to Rosberg. We have got great people and it has been proven that what is more important in sport is stability and that we make sure we are improving day-by-day and race-by-race.
"We have got great people in the team and I have no doubt on that. It takes years and experience for all teams to be at the front, and I think there is no reason why it should be different for ourselves." Binotto admitted it was "too late a call" to bring Sainz in when they did, but will not budge on replacing his strategy staff.
