Ferrari "still the outsider and not the favourite" - Binotto

Mattia Binotto has claimed Ferrari is "still the outsider and not the favourite" despite a promising three days of testing in Spain.

Ferrari set the pace across most of Wednesday and Thursday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as on-track preparations for the 2022 F1 season began.

Although Mercedes topped the order on Friday with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, a different programme meant the overall best times of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were set on previous days.

After finishing third in the constructors' standings to Mercedes and Red Bull last year, Ferrari has been allocated more wind tunnel and CFD time than it's rivals, but Binotto questioned if this was in fact an advantage.

"If you look at the amount, it’s a couple of sessions on the entire year. It’s maybe [worth] a tenth per lap if you are very good and I think that is the amount," explained Binotto.

“But then it is all how you manage priorities, how good you are, how efficient you are in your activities and when I look at Mercedes and Red Bull, how strong they were last year, I have no doubt that the teams are very strong.

“I think the regulations are in place to help the ones that are less efficient.

“Overall, I think as Ferrari it was important to put focus and priority on 2022. We always said it was a good opportunity. Now we are on track, we try to learn the car. How we will benefit from that I think only the next months will show and not the next days.

“I think, as I said some weeks ago, to see the full potential of those cars it will take at least four-five races because there is still so much to learn, to adapt and to address.

“Even the first race will be a completely different situation in Bahrain with the heat, a different type of track. I am pretty sure that we can even find a different balance between teams in terms of relative competitiveness.

“Let’s wait and see. I think do we have a benefit from that? Honestly, we are not the strongest team. We are still the outsider and not the favourite.”

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