Ferrari insider - A good car is not conditioned by track characteristics, but Ferrari is not "desperate"

Italian blogger Leo Turrini, who is famously very close to proceedings at Ferrari, reflects on the Maranello team’s disappointing outcome in the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix and evaluates the SF90’s potential to successfully challenge Mercedes for the title.

Leo Turrini points out that fans and media were wrong to consider Ferrari superior to Mercedes after what seemed to be an encouraging pre-season testing session in Barcelona: “I thing it’s obvious that Mercedes did not target fast laps in testing, as is usually the situation when they feel confident. Also, I remember Mattia Binotto’s words at the end of testing: ‘It’s not true that we’re in front’. But you also shouldn’t be that much behind, I’d like to add.” – Italian blogger Leo Turrini posted on his blog.

So is the real Ferrari the one we saw in Bahrain or China? – “Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Which is not good at all, because a good car is competitive everywhere, it is not conditioned by the track characteristics. Ferrari went from a 3 tenths advantage in the Bahrain desert to the Chinese flop. But the uncertainty and the strange shifts in the first races leave a margin of hope and in fact at Maranello they are not desperate.” – he added.

Leo Turrini also comments on Mattia Binotto and whether the Swiss-Italian engineer can assume a dual role going forward. Binotto served as Ferrari’s technical director since 2016 but is now the main person responsable for Ferrari’s Formula One results: “It’s a false problem as far as i am concerned and I will explain.” – says Leo Turrini – “At the time the decision was made, I was the one who pointed out that ever since Forghieri before Montezemolo, there wasn’t just one person with so much power and responsability in Ferrari. Therefore, it is an anomaly. But the same anomaly did not prevent Ross Brown to win the title in 2009. I can agree that Binotto is not Brawn, but the example still stands to prove that there is no exact rule. Maybe more important to point out is the fact that at the top of the company there are Elkann and Camilleri, not exactly two figures with “Racing” culture. Marchionne himself also wasn’t, but his desire for Ferrari to succeed was huge. In the end, the car was not made by Montezemolo or Marchionne.” – the Italian blogger concluded.