If the internal “feud” between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez continue to hit the headlines when it comes to Red Bull, for Ferrari it was an unexpected and unusual week marked by increasing rumors regarding a possible removal of Mattia Binotto as team principal and with Frederic Vasseur, the current team principal of Alfa Romeo Sauber, indicated as his successor at the top management in Maranello.
Could there by any truth to the reports in the Italian media about Mattia Binotto’s F1 future with Ferrari or was it the typical speculation from the media which always happens especially in the case of teams that fail to achieve the goals which had been more or less identified in the months ahead of the start of the 2022 Formula 1 championship.
Thursday at the Yas Marina circuit was the classic day when the engines remain off but the focus was on the comments and statements from the teams and drivers. languages of the protagonists “travel”. And of course the issue of Ferrari’s future organizational structure, so much debated in the last few days with continuous speculations that generated even reaction a reaction from the Scuderia, which denied the news with an official note, also popped up at the FIA press conference even if it is a matter that cannot be directly controlled by the drivers:
“It’s a big statement that was made by the media, but again they remain rumours,” Charles Leclerc said on Thursday ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi his weekend – “But also for the team in itself, it’s not great to read these things. So I think it’s good that the team has cleared the air, and hopefully we can focus 100 per cent on this last weekend. I think stability is paying off. We’ve been showing in the last few years that we are improving. There’s another step that we need to do, but we are working on that and I’m sure we’ll achieve that. There are always rumours around F1 and especially around Ferrari, and this doesn’t change. Obviously, when we are getting to the end of the season there are always voices around us. But I think as a team we really need to focus on our job on track, try to extract all of the things that are happening around the team. People tend to forget how big of a step we’ve done from last year to this year. There is definitely another step that we need to do, but I’m sure we will do it all together, starting with this race hopefully to finish on a high this season. Apart from that there’s nothing more to say, I don’t think we should give too much attention to the rumours.” – Charles Leclerc added.
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On the other had, Carlos Sainz didn’t want to focus on the internal team issue, focusing directly on a weekend in which he will miss the first free practice session in Abu Dhabi to hand over the seat to Robert Shwartzman: “We’ll try to fight for the win, with the goal, in any case, of scoring important points. If Mercedes were to dominate the weekend and finish the season with a one-two finish, at that point the situation would get more complicated.” – the Spaniard admitted.
“I think if we focus on our weekend” – continued the Ferrari driver – “we will be able to get a good result. From the start, we always try to be on pole and win the race, then we’ll see how things go.” The goal for Carlos Sainz is to manage the 19-point lead over Mercedes and, if the conditions are created, to lend a hand to his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc in the fight for the second place in the Drivers stadings against Red Bull’s Sergio Perez: the Monegasque and the Mexican are paired at 290 points.
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