The sensation of the preseason has been Ferrari, which already aims to be the team that has improved the most compared to last season. But, enough to become a candidate for the world title? Mattia Binotto gives clues.
The caution with which ferrari has worked throughout the preseason begins to fade a bit and Mattia Binotto, who until now had completely rejected the label of favorite team for the Scuderia, has been somewhat more ambitious in his latest statements.
And it is that Ferrari had in mind the 2022 season as the key to its resurgence, since the change in technical regulations forced everyone to start from scratch and on equal terms. The Italian team even decided completely renew the engine to reach the freezing period of its development in an advantageous situation.
Good prospects
And so it seems that it has been, according to the times and reliability shown by Ferrari in the six days of pre-season held in Barcelona and Bahrain.
Starting with the engine, Mattia Binotto he notes that, “knowing that from this year engines will be frozen for the next four seasons, it was obviously important to start with a power unit that had no performance deficit with the competition.”
Loading tweet…
1503367466671656965
“At the end of last season we were down 20-25 horsepower.so the first objective was to eliminate it”, recognizes the director of the team Ferrari. “Usually we wait three to four races to compile a statistic of the rest of the riders, because the more data that is available, the more a correct average will emerge.”
«In the tests, from the little we saw, we carried out an exercise and according to this initial analysis, we are at the level of the others. We are certainly not behind them, and maybe we have a little more. But it is not a firm conclusion. At the moment, we can only be satisfied that we have confirmed the progress seen on the test bench”, reiterates Binotto.
pole and victory
Regarding the overall performance of Ferrari F1-75the transalpine leader has been equally optimistic, even establishing an approximate range in which he considers that his team should move at the start of the season.
“I think we will be competitive this weekend, but we cannot say if we will be two tenths ahead or behind. Red Bull seemed very strong to me, certainly Max (Verstappen). So maybe one will be in front of us and one behind, I don’t know,” says Binotto.
“But I think we will be at a level where we can compete, and if there is a difference, it will not be insurmountable. We are talking about spaces that after 4-5 races can be filled. The starting point is good, but how much we will find out (in the first race) », he concludes.
Will Binotto’s forecast come true and will Ferrari fight with Red Bull to lead the 2022 Formula 1 grid? Starting Friday we will check.
Source: autosport
/
Photos: Scuderia Ferrari