Scuderia Ferrari Team boss Mattia Binotto confirmed after the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP, which proved to be a very difficult weekend for the Maranello team in front of its own fans, that the balance of power will continue to shift between Ferrari and Red Bull, as the two teams will fight for the 2022 Formula 1 titles.
It had been a perfect start of the championship for Charles Leclerc, who stood on 71 points, 46 ahead of Max Verstappen ahead of the fourth round of the season, the Imola Grand Prix, while the Italian side enjoyed a 49-point lead over Red Bull – but their respective advantages have been cut down to 29 and 11 points after the unfortunate outcome of the race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari last weekend:
“We are a bit unhappy about the results, but we need to keep our heads up – that’s part of racing,” Mattia Binotto admitted, at the end of the Emilia Romagna GP in which Carlos Sainz had to retired after only two corner, while Charles Leclerc lost a podium finish due to a late error which sent him down to P9, before he eventually recovered to sixth place: “Some races may go wrong, as it has been the case this time, but I think we still have a competitive package. We need to keep the smile on and look forward to the next races. Certainly, [Red Bull] are strong, and we know that they are developing the cars, but two weeks ago we were in Australia with the best car. Today is the opposite; it will be race by race, the balance can change a bit but again we had a good package here overall. We were second in the quali, second in the wet conditions and in the dry we had a good Sprint,” the Ferrari boss continued.
The Maranello team, as opposed to rivals Red Bull and Mercedes, decided not to introduce any major upgrade package for the Emilia Romagna GP, as Mattia Binotto confirmed that his team are still ‘reviewing’ their position in what is expected to become a long development battle during the 2022 Formula 1 campaign: “We know that developing will be a key element of the season no doubt, we know that Red Bull will be very strong, they are coming back but again we will review the results of today and move forward.” – he added.
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When asked about Ferrari’s strategy in a race in which the Italian side could only count one one car after Carlos Sainz was taken out by the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, Mattia Binotto explained that the decision to pit Charles Leclerc for a second time and send him back on the softs was a normal call, which unfortunately resulted in a crash at Variante Alta: “No, it was not necessary [to stop] for tyres, we didn’t do that for fastest lap – we did that because we thought it was the best option for us, try to have some opportunity. We knew that Red Bull would probably react, so everybody was resetting on the new tyres, and [we thought] ‘let’s go for it’. And I think Charles was attacking Perez at the time so it was the right choice to pit to create that situation, but obviously he made a small mistake. Again that is something that can always happen, so we should not be too disappointed.”
The result of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari was far from ideal for the Maranello team, but Ferrari remain on top of both championships and Mattia Binotto wanted to thank the Tifosi for their incredible support at Imola: “I think we always said we are not only a team; we are a family and we are a family as a team together with our tifosi. That’s why I’m happy to see so many people here, so many tifosi,” he reflected after the race.” – the Ferrari Team Principal concluded.
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