F1 Ferrari, Mattia Binotto’s words cause debate: “But what weak point”

Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto dismisses criticism of the team wall’s strategies, “We also did great things.”

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto in an interview with Motorsport dismissed criticism of the Maranello team’s strategy choices: “I have no doubt that we always need to make progress, we need to improve on aerodynamics, chassis, power unit, strategy and all the aspects that can be improved. Having said that, I think I have a great team that takes care of the strategy and I don’t think it’s a weakness of ours.”

“Races like Monaco, Silverstone or Paul Ricard were judged to be problematic on this front,” Binotto continued, “but I don’t see the team as a problem, because I think we also made the right decisions.

According to Binotto, many times bad luck played a role: “I’m not convinced that what we did was wrong, I think we made what were the right decisions at the time they were made, and sometimes they turned out to be unlucky, not wrong. And if we look at the work of our strategy team, sometimes they also did great things, better than the opponents.”

Binotto gives some examples, “In Austria we had the right strategy, unlike our opponents, just as we had probably the best strategy in France before Charles’ mistake. At Paul Ricard we had the courage to bring two sets of averages into the race, and to make such a choice you have to be not only good, but also brave. So, overall, we have a good team, and I don’t think this is a weakness. We could start discussing, again, Monaco, Silverstone and Paul Ricard: from my point of view I think they were difficult decisions, maybe unfortunate, but not always wrong. So I don’t think it’s our weakness right now.”