Ferrari "happy for the win" in Australia, but aware "it's just the beginning"

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the 2022 Formula One season, especially looking at the recent past. The Ferrari boss and the entire Maranello team celebrated the great success of Charles Leclerc in Melbourne who, in light of Verstappen’s second retirement, has substantially increased his advantage in the top of the drivers ‘standings:

“We are happy and pleased, to win is always beautiful. We had a very strong start to the season with the team: our car and drivers are all fast and competitive” – said the team principal of the Maranello team – “We are focusing on ourselves and we came here trying to do our best. To win we have to do everything perfectly, we have seen that after Bahrain. This is the mentality with which we are approaching each race. To drive well in difficult conditions like here in Australia is always a great satisfaction”. – he explained.

“We didn’t think we had so many points in the standings. We hoped to be competitive and to be able to fight for race wins. We are happy to see these results, but we know it’s just the beginning. It is the third race, we have to face them one at a time – added Mattia Binotto – The merit belongs to the group, not to a single person. We have all worked to have better results, raising the bar. The fruit of the work can be seen and personally I am happy with that. We can’t wait to get to Imola in this moment of form in front of our fans, it is a long time since we had such an opportunity. We hope the venue will be full so we can celebrate this moment with them. We cannot know the result of the next race, but we will face it like always, looking to do our best. I have wonderful memories of what Imola was like. Seeing the crowded Rivazza is a show, but first we will enjoy Easter at home ”.

The only downside of this triumphal day is the retirement of Carlos Sainz, who had a poor weekend in both qualifying and the race: “You have to be perfect to get the right results. He certainly had circumstances that didn’t help him. Already yesterday in qualifying he was penalized by the red flag in Q3, while in the second attempt an error that cost him the chance to start in the top four. Today then the choice of hard tires at the start and a problem behind the wheel on the grid. These are all circumstances that did not help the driver and that lead him to make mistakes which have then been paid dearly. I know Carlos, he will draw an important lesson from today and he will come out stronger than before. I am convinced that he will be able to redeem himself already in Imola ”.