Binotto admits: 'Ferrari lacks winner's mentality from Schumacher era'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
After a rock-solid start to the Formula 1 season, Ferrari has widely been proclaimed as the big favourite for the world title, but where Red Bull Racing made continuous progress, the Italian racing team remained stuck. Mattia Binotto has been criticised for refusing to intervene harshly, but in the meantime, he faces the fact that his team is not performing optimally.
Speaking as a guest at the Festival della Gazzetta of La Gazzetta dello Sport the Ferrari team boss explains where his team has fallen short and where progress can be made for the future. "It is no longer enough to do your homework well, to win you have to continue to progress and improve," Binotto said.
Binotto acknowledges Ferrari needs to make strides
He adds that Ferrari has come back strongly after a few difficult years and stresses that the team has kept its promise to become competitive again. It did so thanks to the strong performance of the F1-75 and the equally strong driver duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Nevertheless, Binotto says there are still steps to be taken to ensure Ferrari can be competitive in any situation.
What does Ferrari lack to get back to the top? "That winning mentality that was there in the Schumacher era and that pushed you to do better after every victory," Binotto admits.
The team boss looks back at Michael Schumacher's first victory with Ferrari, which he experienced at the time when he was working as an engine engineer at the team. "It was also my first victory and when I heard the anthem I realised what it means to be Ferrari," Binotto said.