Mattia Binotto concedes Ferrari will not win races this season

Ferrari

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Binotto concedes Ferrari will not win races this season

Ferrari has not secured victory since Mexico 2019

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Monday 1 February 2021 05:00 Updated: 22:21

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has conceded the gap between Ferrari and Mercedes will be too great to overhaul for race wins this year despite a brand new power unit being introduced.

Binotto's team enter the new season off the back of the worst campaign since 1980 with a large portion of Ferrari's problems deriving from an underpowered engine, leading to a new design being developed.

With no race victory since the Mexican Grand Prix in 2019 and the quest to reel back time lost during last season's troubles, Binotto is looking for more of the chaos that allowed Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez to stand on the top step last year.

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"Honestly, the gap to the best team today is very big and we will not close it this year," he said.

"But to win races, you never know what may happen during the season, during races, if there will be an opportunity, hopefully, we can get it. I do not have a glass bowl.

"Let's wait and see. That is what is great about F1. There are uncertainties and we are working very hard to do our best, let's see what will be the competitive level in March."

Ferrari has partnered Charles Leclerc with former McLaren driver Carlos Sainz for the new season after the Spaniard helped push the British team to third in the constructors' last year.

Having suggested victories would be a stretch too far, Binotto insisted Sainz's talent warranted podium finishes and that the team must ensure he is given a competitive car.

"Hopefully, we see him on the podium, I am really hoping to see him on the podium," he explained. "I think that is not depending on him but certainly on the car.

"If the car will be good enough, I think he is capable of doing strong races and will be on the podium.

"Again, I think he is a very young driver. The youngest line-up since 1968. Normally, we are doing such a choice not only for two years. It is because you are trying to create solid foundations for the future and looking at the long term as well.

"So we hope that Carlos will be renewed and be with us as well in the next years."