Mattia Binotto: A "very disappointing weekend" as Ferrari lose ground in the standings

Ferrari

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Binotto: A "very disappointing weekend" as Ferrari lose ground in the standings

Ferrari dropped two positions in the constructors' standings after the Spanish GP

Sam Hall

Monday 17 August 2020 13:24 Updated: 13:29

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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes his team failed to maximise its potential at a "very disappointing" Spanish Grand Prix.

Ferrari has not been performing at the levels expected in 2020 after technical directives were issued by the FIA clarifying practices that are and are not legal with regard to power units.

These TDs were drafted following an investigation into the 2019 Ferrari power unit appear to have affected the Scuderia and its customer teams more than any of the other seven teams on the grid.

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Starting the Spanish Grand Prix ninth with Charles Leclerc and 11th with Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari aimed to finish with both cars inside the point.

However, an electrical issue for Leclerc saw him become the only retirement of the race, and a late call to switch Vettel on to a two stop may have resulted in a seventh place finish, but the poor communication saw tensions heighten further between the team and driver.

Assessing the weekend, Binotto said: "[It was] A very disappointing weekend, not just because of the result, but also because of the way we managed it. In qualifying yesterday, we didn’t make the most of the potential at our disposal and we know how important grid position is on this track where overtaking is so difficult.

"Despite that, in the race we had a genuine chance of fighting for fourth place with Charles, but a reliability problem put him out of the running. A malfunction in an electronic control unit resulted in his car shutting down, causing him to spin, effectively ending his race.

"Sebastian moved up the order well, showing great tenacity and driving very cleanly: doing a 36 lap stint on used Soft tyres is quite something. The same observation goes for him as well as for Charles: starting further up the grid he could have aspired to do better than seventh."

Ahead of the weekend, Binotto had declared the minimum target for Ferrari this season was to finish third in the standings.

Ferrari had held this position heading to Spain, but leaving it, Ferrari now sit fifth, having lost ground to both Racing Point and McLaren.

He added: "We have dropped out of third spot in the Constructors’ classification, even if by just a few points.

"We must always get all the potential out of our car if we want to achieve this goal and we must continue to work hard to close the gap to those who today were out of reach for us, namely the only three cars that completed all the laps of this Grand Prix."

Before you go...

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