Scuderia Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto feels that some Formula 1 teams were hiding their true pace and potential more than others on the grid, given the closely matched lap times which could be seen in the first pre-season testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
The drivers’ fastest laps were within a relatively close proximity to each other dueing the three days of testing at the Spanish track, but this is not uncommon at this moment of the season, given that no team wants to reveal its real performance until the first race of the new championship.
The new rules and technical regulations for the 2022 Formula One season should leave a lot less room for interpretation for the teams this campaign, Mattia Binotto explained that the designs have been radically different throughout the grid – which explains his shock at the similar performance levels im Barcelona.
“What surprised me is seeing all very different cars and despite that quite similar in terms of performance,” Mattia Binotto said, in a recent interview for Sky Italia.
“When you see different conceptual choices, you expect to see that translated on track too with a performance difference. Instead I think the cars will converge with the performance even if they are very different in the forms.” – the Ferrari boss added.
The Maranello team was constantly up near the top of the timesheets during the first pre-season testing session in Barcelona, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc showing solid consistency as the F1-75 car collected its first experience of extended running.
But despite this, Mattia Binotto feels there is nothing to read into it at this moment, given the fact that teams don’t know how much performance they are keeping in reserve.
“For judging the performance is too early, I think,” he said. “Some teams are sandbagging more than others. We will see that with the tests in Bahrain and with the first races. At the beginning of the season, we will try to exploit all the potential of the car, that’s the first upgrade. We will do some small changes, but nothing drastic. So we will focus, at the beginning of the season, mostly on drawing out all the potential from the current car.” – he continues.
Alongside their apparent speed, the Scuderia completed more laps than any other team in Barcelona which should help the team in the process of developing the F1-75 car based on the data gathered in Barcelona and therefore improve their car before the season gets underway with the Bahrain Grand Prix next month.
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