Mattia Binotto granted one last interview for the official Formula 1 website before leaving Scuderia Ferrari and the role of Team Principal in the hands of Frederic Vasseur. On the occasion of Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, Formula 1 asked the Italian manager to look back at the years spent together with the German driver in Maranello.
Sebastian Vettel joined Scuderia Ferrari from Red Bull at the start of the 2015 Formula 1 season, after four consecutive world titles won with the Austrian side, moving to Maranello with the clear target or bringing Ferrari back to winning ways. Despite several race wins and title challenges in two seasons (2017 and 2018), they ultimately fell short.
“First, Sebastian is a great, great driver, and I don’t think it’s myself telling it, it’s really what he has achieved – fantastic, outstanding, amazing. As Ferrari, we have been lucky to have him as part of the team and it has been six important years. He brought a lot as a driver, but more than that, I think he brought a lot as a person, and each single Ferrari fan still loves Sebastian. I think it’s a matter of fact, as each single fan loves Ferrari still, I think we in Ferrari, all the people in Ferrari, are still loving him, and that’s the way we are feeling. They have been incredible years, I think.” – the former Ferrari boss explained.
Mattia Binotto then focused on the difficult moment in which the Maranello team chose not to continue with Sebastian:
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“[It was] difficult for myself, coming to the end, somehow to announce to him that we will not renew. That maybe has been the most difficult task I’ve done myself through my career. When you love such a person and you really enjoy working with him, it’s always difficult to come to the end. I think it has been an important moment as well for my career itself, because from that… through difficulties you become stronger. But it’s the one that we will remember as the most difficult one.” – Mattia Binotto continued, as reported by Formula1.com.
Regarding the sporting results achieved by the Scuderia Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel duo during their time together, Mattia Binotto feels that the German driver is not the only one responsible for the Maranello team not being able to secure the long-awaited world championship:
“I think he is somehow right, because when he joined Ferrari, he was ambitious, his objective was to win the title with Ferrari, and I think together with himself, it was our dream and our objective as well. It has been a failure for him, but it has been a failure all together as a team. He has been very close, or the closest he has been was ‘17 and ’18, so we had a few opportunities. We didn’t get it and I think when your final objective is to do that, and you do not achieve it, it’s a failure.” – former Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto concluded.
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