Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto admitted that is looking at rivals Red Bull as an example in his efforts to restore the Italian side to World Championship challengers.
Mercedes have won seven consecutive Formula 1 title doubles and from 2017-19 the Maranello team proved to be their closest challengers. Yet in 2020 Ferrari faced a very difficult moment and fell from second to sixth in the overall standings, making way for Red Bull, who were champions from 2010-13, to move back up into the runners-up berth.
In 2021, the team owned by the Austrian energy drink giant are threatening to dethrone Mercedes, while Scuderia Ferrari are also enjoying a more promising campaign so far.
The Ferrari boss, who insists he has always felt the Ferrari hierarchy have had his back, has identified aspects of Red Bull’s modus operandi that show him how his own team could fight their way back to the top.
“It’s time to continue building, a matter of managing the expectations. There are no silver bullets in F1. If we look at ourselves at the start of the 1990s to 2000 with Michael [Schumacher] and Jean Todt, it took time to build the team. It took time at Red Bull or Mercedes. Even more, if you look to Red Bull. It’s a long time that they are not winning [championships]. But they are the passions without, let me say, no revolutions inside the team. They are passionate, working hard and working well, but to build it takes time. I know I have the full trust [of Ferrari] and I feel the responsibility and it’s my job to commit to the world.” – he explained.
“It’s a matter of understanding what were the reasons, why we came to that choice and that mistake and ensuring we put in place actions to avoid them in the future. Stability in the team is crucial as well. We’ve got the same persons doing strategies since many years, the pit crew is stable. So, keeping stability and building a team that can improve time after time [is the objective], mistakes after mistakes is where we are putting our effort. If we look at the season we’ve had so far – solid race weekends; there have been difficult situations like at Imola, the weather, the rain, but I think we always made the right strategic choice and on the engineering side, the pit crew side, it has been quite consistent. That’s important.” – he concluded.
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