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Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto believes it would've been "difficult" for Carlos Sainz to pass Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The team took advantage of a late Safety Car to pit Sainz for a set of used Soft tyres, which put him behind Sergio Perez at the restart. Given Perez was on Mediums that were several laps older, it meant that he was a lot slower at the restart and resulted in him dropping down from P3 to P7 by the chequered flag. Even though it only took Sainz three laps to get past him, he was ultimately not able to keep up with the pace of Mercedes after using up his fresher tyres to pass Perez. Binotto believes that while Sainz could have been in the fight, it would have been more difficult to overtake both Mercedes with less than 10 laps to go. "I think the Mercedes was very fast and certainly [Carlos] could have been in the fight ," he told media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "It...

Former BAR-Honda team boss Craig Pollock once opined that the role of team principal was the most challenging of all management positions: “There is no other job in the world where you are as publicly audited every fortnight, by extremely passionate people but with little or no knowledge of the overall picture.” The Scotsman, who founded the team that then became the mighty Mercedes steamroller, had a point: virtually every one of F1’s tens of millions of global fans hold critical opinions - more usually in hindsight - with their judgements generally being clouded by the travails of their favourite team or driver. Pollock spoke those words over 20 years ago, before the era of 1000-strong F1 teams; at a time when the internet was used for banking via dial-up modems and iPhones oohed at in sci-fi movies; Amazon lost millions daily and twitter was something birds did each morning; Facebook was a photo album and TikTok a nursery rhyme; Budget caps applied to grocery bills, Netflix ...

Ferrari was forced into halting development on its 2022 Formula 1 car as it "couldn't afford" new upgrades, according to boss Mattia Binotto. The team started the season with the quickest package, but have fallen back from runaway leaders Red Bull after winning two of the opening three races. Since the Austrian Grand Prix in July, Ferrari have not won a race as a potential title challenge has morphed into a fight for second with Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship. However, while the eight-time champions have been developing their car to try and mask the problems with it, Binotto has revealed that the development tap was switched off as the budget cap struck. Viewed by others: Ferrari Reports: Time running out for Binotto ...

Charles Leclerc believes there is "always voices around Ferrari " as he defended Formula 1 team boss Mattia Binotto , who was reported to be on his way out of Ferrari . Binotto's position as Team Principal was called into doubt this week with suggestions in Italian media that he would be relieved of command following a disappointing 2022 season for the Scuderia. Having started with two wins in three races, Ferrari 's season imploded through a variety of reliability, strategic and operational errors which allowed Red Bull and Max Verstappen to run away with both titles. Ferrari's wait for a World Championship title will enter a 15th season in 2023, but Leclerc firmly backed Binotto to deliver for the Maranello squad. Leclerc: People forget Ferrari's progress "There are always rumours around in Formula 1 and especially around Ferrari , this doesn't ch...

Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says his team had to halt development on their 2022 car because they had hit their spending limit under Formula 1's budget cap. The Scuderia started the 2022 as the team to beat, with Charles Leclerc winning two of the campaign's first three races to seize the initiative in the championship. However, as the season wore on, Red Bull and Max Verstappen emerged as the class of the field, with both Drivers' and Constructors' titles having been wrapped up with three races of the season still to go. In recent weeks, Mercedes also seem to have edged ahead of Ferrari, with at least one Silver Arrows driver finishing ahead of both Ferraris in the last three Grands Prix, including a dominant 1-2 finish in Brazil last time out. Speaking after the Brazilian Grand Prix, Binotto admitted that Ferrari have not had the financial leeway to continue developing their F1 -75, having hit the $140 million limit allowed for 2022. "It ...

Mattia Binotto has praised Ferrari's "fantastic" strategy team after they engineered a tactical 'dummy' radio call to trigger a Sergio Perez pit stop in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez were battling for the runner-up spot in the championship going into the finale level on points, but the Ferrari driver was behind following the first round of pit-stops. He was closing in on Perez and on Lap 34, was told to "box, opposite Perez." Perez and Red Bull bought this bait and covered Leclerc off, who then moved onto a one-stop strategy – setting up a thrilling chase, with the Mexican falling just 1.3 seconds short. In a year littered with multiple Ferrari strategic errors – including in Monaco, Britain, Hungary, Belgium and Brazil for Leclerc – team boss Binotto was quick to praise the under-fire department. Viewed by others: ...

The final race of the 2022 Formula 1 season followed a similar pattern to several others this year, with Max Verstappen leading away from his pole position to score a record-extending 16th win of the season. Behind Verstappen, Charles Leclerc took advantage of a good strategy call from Ferrari to leapfrog Sergio Perez into second place, thereby finishing runner-up in the Drivers' Championship at the Mexican's expense. But with Ferrari having made several operational errors and questionable strategy calls throughout the season, is team boss Mattia Binotto 's position under threat ? Joining Michael Butterworth to discuss the key issues from the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend is Dieter Rencken, Editorial Director of RacingNews365 . With Perez needing to finish ahead of Leclerc to bag second place in the Championship, should Verstappen have done more in Abu Dhabi to back Leclerc up into the path of the Mexican? What can we expect from the final two additions to...

Ferrari must make addressing their reliability concerns their "top priority" in the off-season, according to boss Mattia Binotto. The Italian squad suffered from a series of engine and other reliability failures in 2022, with Charles Leclerc dropping out of the Spanish and Azerbaijan Grands Prix from the lead, while Carlos Sainz retired from a podium spot in a fiery blow-up in Austria. Binotto admitted that Ferrari "had to slightly lower the power" in the second-half of the season amid concerns, and feels that to end the Scuderia's long wait for a title, fixing the issues should be their main focus. Viewed by others: Analysis Ferrari How Ferrari's Abu Dhabi tests will impact their 2023 car ...

Mattia Binotto has reportedly resigned from his role as Team Principal at Ferrari, following intense speculation about his position after a difficult season for the Italian team. Italian media outlets Sky Sport and Corriere della Sera report that Ferrari will announce on Friday that the two parties are separating. Ferrari started off 2022 on a high by winning two of the first four races, which put Charles Leclerc 24 points ahead of defending champion Max Verstappen. But a spate of reliability problems, operational issues and driver errors enabled Red Bull to overtake them in the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, ultimately going on to claim both titles. As a result Ferrari Chairman John Elkann is said to have lost confidence in Binotto, leading to him offering his resignation after 28 years at the team. This comes after prior speculation in Italian media, which the team was forced to deny earlier this month regarding Binotto's position at the tea...

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has called for greater regulation of cryptocurrencies, following the bankruptcy of team sponsor FTX. The cryptocurrency exchange company had prominent branding on the Mercedes W13 and driver race suits, but the eight-time Constructors' Champions removed all FTX logos ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix after FTX filed for bankruptcy on 11 November. Discussing the firm's collapse, Wolff expressed his disbelief and said the sector needed greater regulation to avoid such instances in future. "It's difficult, because we all know that crypto has relevance," Wolff told media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "I strongly believe in blockchain as a way of transactions in the future, but the situation is very unfortunate. "We considered FTX because they were one of the most credible and solid, financially sound partners that were out there, and out of nowhere, you can see that a crypto company can basically be on its kne...

Carlos Sainz has stated that "Rome wasn't built in a day" amid continued rumours over Mattia Binotto 's future at Ferrari . Italian media outlets Sky Sport and Corriere della Sera recently reported that Binotto and the Scuderia had agreed to separate, with Binotto said to have resigned as Team Principal. This follows on from prior speculation in Italian media, which the team were forced to deny earlier in November regarding Binotto's position at the team. After the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sainz was asked for his thoughts on the situation, and whether he would prefer change or stability within the outfit. Sainz reflects on Ferrari situation "I'm not going to get into what I prefer [or what] I don't prefer," Sainz told Sky Sports F1 . "I just know that, from experience, Rome wasn't built in a day, and you need to take in...

Amid continued speculation over the future of Mattia Binotto at Ferrari, a highly placed source has now confirmed to TheFOXposts.Com that he will leave his role as team boss. The topic has been much discussed in the Italian media , with many publications examining what the team may look like without Binotto. According to them, it could be good news for Charles Leclerc , but perhaps less so for Carlos Sainz. The La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that Leclerc will become the team's undisputed number one, something the Monegasque is said to have always longed for. According to the publication, he is also being given that opportunity due to Fred Vasseur being put forward as the prime candidate to replace Binotto. Vasseur has previously stated his belief in having one driver as the team leader, and knows Leclerc well after working with him during the driver's time at Alfa Romeo in 2018. ...

For full-fat Italian drama forget Verdi or Puccini at La Scala - look no further than the rolling hills around Maranello, a once-dozy agricultural village (current population 18k) that currently turns out 10 000 (or so) automotive sculptures per annum, each of which changes hands at ever-escalating values. The stage setting is Ferrari ; the brand’s newest operatic drama the latest smash hit ‘Push or Jump?’, playing to capacity global audiences. The main character is, of course, Mattia Binotto, Team Principal and Managing Director of Scuderia Ferrari, the hallowed brand’s Formula 1 racing team which placed second in both 2022 World Championships; the Swiss Italian’s opposite numbers are John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna, respectively Chairman and CEO of Ferrari. Elkann is well-known only due to his (inherited) role atop the Prancing Horse pile thanks (primarily) to an investment made in Ferrari – notably, a decade before Elkann was born - by his industrialist grandfather Gianni Ag...