F1 News
Binotto wasn't expecting to be this far off Mercedes
Mattia Binotto has admitted he wasn't expecting to be this far off Mercedes at the mid-point of the season as Ferrari look to recharge the batteries for a better second half of 2019.
It has been a torrid season for the Scuderia with team orders, reliability and driver mistakes the story of their season. In Canada Sebastian Vettel was on for victory until he ran off and was handed a penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton whilst Charles Leclerc has suffered two retirements through his own mistakes.
In addition, their favouring of Vettel was questioned at the start of the season and were over a minute off the pace in Hungary adding to their woes.
Ferrari looked to be the pick of the bunch during winter testing but Mercedes have turned it up and have been dominant, something Binotto wasn't expecting.
"We were surprised by our poor performance at the start of this season," the Italian told Motorsport.com.
"We might not have expected to be ahead, but at least as fast as Mercedes. That was certainly not the case in Australia. Maybe in Bahrain, but generally not."