Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc 'driving over the limit' to catch Mercedes - Ferrari

Ferrari

Vettel and Leclerc 'driving over the limit' to catch Mercedes - Ferrari

Does it explain their mistakes in 2019?

Matthew Scott

Wednesday 10 July 2019 16:04

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Mattia Binotto says Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have made mistakes on-track this season as they have been forced to drive over the "absolute limit" as Ferrari try to keep pace with Mercedes.

Leclerc has only recently solved qualifying issues, which included a crash on the Saturday of the Azerbaijan GP, while Vettel spun out of contention in Bahrain and then had victory in Canada taken away from him by the stewards as correcting an off-track moment put him in the path of Lewis Hamilton.

The Silver Arrows' dominant winning start to 2019 was only stopped last time out in Austria by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

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And Binotto says more risky driving might be needed if the Scuderia are to get into the winners' column this year.

"It certainly is not easy for him, no question," Binotto told Auto Bild of the mounting pressure on Vettel.

"He has this dream to become World Champion with Ferrari and we support him to realize this dream.

"He understands his role in rebuilding the team. He is very important to me, because he has a lot of experience and because he has expertise and great skills.

"On the one hand he is a team player, on the other hand a leader who has great enthusiasm at work.

"He also enjoys his job if he does not win, which is not so easy. But he knows that this enthusiasm is a key to winning in the future. And he also knows: nobody can win alone, we can only do it all together. The team is the basis."

Of Vettel's errors, Binotto explained: "It was always racing situations where Sebastian was at the absolute limit - sometimes over it as well.

"Our drivers have to drive even more risky right now to keep up. In Canada, for example, it was not easy for Seb to stay ahead of Hamilton, who probably had the faster car.

"The future is always more important than the past. What is important is that he feels that we trust in him and build on him. And we do."