Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says they “cannot accept” another year as poor as 2020. The Italian side finished the 2020 Formula 1 season in sixth position with a best result of second place. It was their worst season since 1980, when they finished 10th.
Mattia Binotto said: “It has been a very hard season, even harder than we expected.”
But he said he believed the team could improve in 2021, saying: “Third is not impossible and that should be our minimum objective for next season.”
He admitted, though, that “finishing third [in the constructors’ championship] will not be an easy job” and said he expected both Racing Point and McLaren to be strong.
And he said Ferrari had no hope of catching Mercedes in 2021: “The gap to the best team is very high and we will not close it next year.”
Ferrari’s biggest issue in 2020 was a lack of engine performance after a series of rule clarifications and a confidential settlement last winter with governing body the FIA, which believed but could not prove that the engine was not being run legally at all times in 2019. Ferrari denies any wrongdoing.
Mattia Binotto, who was talking in an end-of-season news conference, admitted Ferrari had the worst engine on the grid in 2020 but said the team had made progress with a new engine design for next season.
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“The engine is running well on the dyno [test bed],” Binotto said. “In terms of performance, it has progressed well. Luckily we can have a completely new power-unit, otherwise we would be at a disadvantage. I think we will be back to be competitive as a power unit; we will not be the lowest in the field. That is the feeling I have got.” – he explained.
Development on cars is limited for 2021 because of cost-saving changes agreed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but Mattia Binotto said he believed Ferrari could make a step forward.
However, he said that developing a new car for 2022, when a major set of rule changes that significantly change the cars will come into force, was “more important than 2021, as we are starting a new competitive era and if you start behind it will be difficult to catch up”.
Mattia Binotto said he felt “fully supported” by chairman John Elkann and vice-president Piero Ferrari, but added: “I know my time [as team principal] is not infinite. I am aware that as a team we need to do well in the next seasons… [but] it will take some time.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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