Ferrari F1 Mattia Binotto is confident that Ferrari’s F1 power unit with upgraded components is no longer “not so dramatic” in difference from Mercedes.
Ferrari’s F1 power unit, suspected of misusing fuel flow sensors in 2019, suffered considerable disadvantages after the technical directive was issued before the 2020 season.
After that, Ferrari worked on improving the F1 power unit in the off-season toward 2021, and introduced the hybrid system developed for the F1 power unit to be renewed in 2022 at the F1 Russian GP in advance to Charles Leclerc’s machine. In Turkey, it was also introduced to Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc achieved the 4th place finish for the second consecutive race in the F1 Turkish GP and the F1 US GP. Ferrari narrowed the gap to 3.5 points in a battle for third place in the ranking with McLaren.
“Looking at the US Grand Prix, we had the most downforce, but it was in line with other speeds. Given last year’s situation, this is a big step forward,” said Mattia Binotto.
“I know there’s a gap with the best engines of the day, but I don’t think that gap is that dramatic right now.”
“I’m sure we’re seeing power unit help in qualifying and racing, which gives us confidence in the next race.”
Mattia Binotto added that Ferrari’s competitiveness against McLaren in Austin once again took a positive step.
“Overall, this season McLaren has always been very competitive in medium to high speed corners, and so has Austin,” said Mattia Binotto.
“When we look at the weekend performance, we’re ahead of them, with Charles averaging 0.5 seconds faster than (Daniel) Ricciardo, finishing 25 seconds earlier, and clearly faster in lap balance.”
“Theoretically, it wasn’t the right circuit for our car, which is why we’re happy with the progress of the last race.”
Category: F1 / Ferrari
