Mattia Binotto, who on July 27 2016 was appointed Chief Technical Officer of Scuderia Ferrari, comments on the Maranello team’s successful start of the new Formula One season, as Sebastian Vettel won the 2017 Australian Grand Prix ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, with Kimi Raikkonen also scoring important points for Ferrari in the Formula 1 Constructor Standings.
Mattia Binotto, who took over as the Scuderia Ferrari’s technical director last year, said that Sebastian Vettel’s victory was the result of how well the SF70H car managed to look after its tyres during the race at the Albert Park circuit: “The Grand Prix was all decided at the pit stops, this is very clear.” – Mattia Binotto said, as reported by Italian national sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport – ” At that moment, we probably had less tyre degradation than our rivals towards the end of the stint and that meant we were able to stay out on track for longer period of time, which definitely helped us as Hamilton lost time behind Verstappen. From that point on, it was only a case of bringing home the car in terms of reliability and we managed to do so without any problems.” – Ferrari’s Chief Technical Officer added.
“Seb did an excellent job, while Kimi definitely had a more complicated race, partly because he started from a bit further back on the grid. However, he managed to hold onto this position to the finish and his lap times in the final part of the race showed what he was capable of. We are very pleased with the way we started the season, but are well aware of the fact that Mercedes are still a little bit in front of us, so we have to work even harder in order to be able to challenge them again at the next race.” – Mattia Binotto concluded, as reported by Corriere dello Sport.
