Binotto pinpoints Ferrari "top priority" for Red Bull challenge

Ewan Gale
Friday 25 November 2022 08:00

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has highlighted his "top priority" to help push the Scuderia to the title next season.

The Maranello-based team got off to a flying start to the past campaign with two wins in the opening three races courtesy of Charles Leclerc.

But the Monégasque eventually fell into a battle for second place in the drivers' standings as a series of driver mistakes, reliability issues and operational failures left Ferrari reeling.

The pressure being exerted on the team has seen rumours of Binotto's impending sacking circulate, only to be swiftly shut down by Ferrari ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Asked what the main lessons were from the campaign ahead of potential changes to assist a more fruitful push next year, Binotto replied: "I don't think there is only one because our ups and downs were coming from different areas.

"Reliability I would put as our top priority because in order to win, you need to be reliable and that has not been the case this season.

"The second is the speed of the car because while we have been very competitive in quali, it has not always been the case for our race pace, whether that is tyre degradation or pure race pace, it was not sufficient to fight.

"So I think these are the two because if you have a fast and reliable car, then yes you may make mistakes on strategy or pit stops, but you can compensate through the fact the car itself is fast and reliable.

"It is where we need to put our effort knowing that still, the ups and downs are strategies and maybe different points which we will review."