Ferrari retains “great faith” in Mattia Binotto

While fans no longer know which way to turn so that the Team Ferrari returns to success in the World Championship Formula 1 (last Manufacturers' title in 2008, Drivers in 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen, Editor's note), the boss of the prancing horse brand John Elkann continues to have faith.

Note it is better for the venerable Italian institution as the prospect of winning a world crown this season is a miracle.

After two complicated seasons in the soft underbelly of the peloton, the house of Maranello has nevertheless found color in 2022. Well born, the F1-75 allowed Ferrari to reconnect with the taste of victory in racing, and this from the GP opening in Bahrain through Charles Leclerc.

Despite another convincing success in Australia for the Monegasque, the rest was much more complicated for Cavallino Rampante, between a drop in performance, strategic hiccups, and gross errors.

Arriving on his lands of Monza, the Scuderia and Leclerc are far from Red Bull and its leader, Max Verstappen (125 points behind the Reds on the Red Bull, 109 for the Monegasque against the Dutchman).

But what is most worrying in the story is undoubtedly Mattia Binotto's refusal to recognize the mistakes of his team. The former technical director, promoted to team principal at the start of 2019, struggles every weekend to find more or less shaky explanations to justify the repeated blunders of his troops.

If these failings did not escape the big boss of Ferrari, the latter still renewed his confidence in Binotto during a major interview with the Journal of Sport Italian.

« We have great faith in Mattia Binotto and salute everything he and his engineers have accomplished, Elkann told the transalpine daily. That said, there is no doubt that we need to improve in many areas: the work in Maranello, in the garage, on the pit wall, and behind the wheel.

We must continue to progress and this concerns the mechanics, the engineers, the drivers, but also the entire management team, including the Team Principal.

We note that there are still too many errors in terms of reliability, strategy, and management ».

Elkann assures, however, that Ferrari “ was right to trust Binotto and his team. Thanks to them, we are performing well and winning again. But I'm not satisfied because we can do better ».

Despite this optimism, the president of the Prancing Horse has set a cautious roadmap for the Scuderia with the objective of winning the world title by 2026.

John Elkann, President of Ferrari, in discussions with Stefano Domenicali, boss of F1 / © DPPI

Relief for Binotto?

Asked about his superior's comments at a press conference this Saturday in Monza to know if he was relieved by such public support, Binotto replied that he never doubted it.

« I know, and the whole team knows, that we have the full support of our president, commented the head of Gestione Sportiva. We do not need official statements in the press.

We are constantly in contact. Is this a relief? This is more of an external subject because internally we had no concerns in this area. But this kind of interview confirms this position so it's positive ».

As for Maranello's medium-term global ambitions, Binotto specifies that Ferrari does not aim to drag things out and will do everything to win the cup " as soon as possible ».

Obviously, it won't be before 2023.