“We knew Qatar would be difficult for us due to the tire wear” – Mattia Binotto

Slow and steady wins the race. It’s not a saying that should fit too well into the super-fast and hyper-technological world of Formula 1, but in Qatar Ferrari built its double points finish and the decisive move over McLaren in the constructors’ standings precisely on this basis. At the end of the race, Ferrari was able to smile, with Carlos Sainz seventh and Charles Leclerc eighth. McLaren, on the other hand, despite running close to the podium for a long time with Lando Norris, had to settle for only two points precisely due to a puncture suffered by the young English driver. A situation that the Ferrari Team Principal wanted to point out after the race at at Losail International Circuit:

“I would not say that it was a weekend below expectations” – Mattia Binotto told Sky Sport F1 – “it is clear that seventh and eighth is not what we are aiming for, but we knew that this track would be difficult for us due to the tire wear. We had suffered a lot at Paul Ricard and in this regard the car hasn’t changed. But we have learned to manage this and we have certainly done it better than in France. We immediately asked the drivers to never push and to try to make only one pit stop. They held back, they never pushed. Neither with the mediums, nor with the hard ones, if not at the very end, when we were sure of reaching the finish line. It worked. If you look at others, they pushed when it wasn’t needed and it didn’t pay off.” – the Ferrari boss explained.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!

A satisfaction, that of Mattia Binotto, also extended to the splendid ‘double pit stop’ operated by the mechanics of the Maranello team. A stop that was actually ‘born’ from a communication problem. “There was a radio communication problem that we will try to understand, with Carlos – explained the Maranello team principal – otherwise he would probably have been ahead of Stroll with the pit stop and maybe he could have attacked Ocon at the end, scoring a better result. Once the radio problem was solved, the guys managed the double stop very well. Let’s not forget that they came after three races in a row, everybody was very tired and also had to do the change of chassis last night” – the Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal concluded at the end of the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix.