Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has provided details regarding his decision to join Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz on the podium after the Monegasque driver won the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, just ahead of his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz, which marked an incredible start to the 2022 Formula 1 season.
This was the Italian side’s first Formula 1 win since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel finished on top. Charles Leclerc’s win at the Bahrain International circuit this season was achieved after an amazing race-long battle with 2021 F1 world champion Max Verstappen which saw the two young driver battle for P1 and attempt several overtaking moves which delighted the fans.
At the end of the Sakhir race, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were joined by team principal Mattia Binotto for the podium celebrations with sparkling water and a rendition of ‘Il Canto degli Italiani’. The Ferrari boss has confirmed that his call to join Charles and Carlos on the podium was with the entire Italian team in mind:
“I don’t usually go [up to the podium], it’s not my style. I thought about it a lot and ended up forcing myself to do it because I felt it was the best way to represent the whole team there. If we had chosen someone from the engine or aerodynamics department, for example, that would only have shown part of them. I wanted to show this double victory (1-2) belongs to all of us!” – Mattia Binotto explained in a recent interview for German publication BILD.
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Scuderia Ferrari was cautiously optimistic ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season, based on the impressions and data gathered during the pre-season testing sessions in Barcelona and Bahrain, as the Maranello team topped the timesheets regularly and showed great consistency. But, while keeping their heads down and stating that Red Bull and Mercedes remain the teams to beat in 2022, Mattia Binotto admitted that he was planning his podium decision long before the opening round of the new F1 campaign: “I thought about it a week before the race and decided after the race. Everyone at Ferrari has been waiting for the new season and we’ve put a lot of work and passion into it. We knew we had a good car, but we didn’t realise how good it was until after the race. It was a great relief for all of us.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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