F1 News
Binotto warns Ferrari won't "be able to fight on all tracks"
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has said his team won't be as competitive every racing weekend as it was last weekend in Austria, with Charles Leclerc leading the way for 69 of the 71 laps before being overtaken by the charging Max Verstappen.
The Monegasque took a convincing pole position but wasn't joined by teammate Sebastian Vettel on the front row, with the German's car suffering a mechanical issue that forbade him from running in Q3 of qualifying.
Starting from P9, Vettel drove an excellent race and was tantalisingly close to finishing on the podium but had to settle for P4, overtaking Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap.
As for Leclerc, he looked the quickest car on track for the bulk of the race, until Verstappen came alive in the second half of the race at the Red Bull Ring. The two 21-year-olds battled hard for the lead, until Verstappen finally made a move stick to take the lead and the win.
Still no win for Ferrari this season, but with two pole positions in the last three race weekends, some promising signs.
“I think we’ve seen before to come to Paul Ricard that it could have been a difficult weekend," Binotto told RaceFans.net after admitting the uptick in performance is also down to specific track characteristics.
"We knew coming here that we may have a better chance.
“But we are aware as well that we are improving our car. So we think it’s a combination of the two factors. So I think at the end of Paul Ricard the car has improved compared to Barcelona. Here furthermore we have new updates on the car which went in the right direction.”
Despite the improvements on the SF90, Binotto doesn't expect the SF90 to be battling for the win on every track just yet, with the halfway point of the season coming up in a few weeks' time.
“Will we be able to fight, to battle on all the tracks? I don’t think yet. There are still tracks where it will be more difficult for us.
“But again for now to then we may also bring a few developments and I think we can only see race by race.”