The (forced) resignation of Mattia Binotto forces the Scuderia to improvise just three months before the new 2023 season
There are several teams interested in the services of the Swiss engineer, with Mercedes and Sauber at the helm
Mattia Binotto is no longer the ‘main team’ of Ferrari. The fate of the Swiss engineer, who has been linked to the Scuderia for 28 years -the last four as head of the F1 team-, was already set since the alarm went off, on the eve of the Abu Dhabi GP. La Gazzetta dello Sport then announced Binotto’s dismissal and even gave the name of his successor: Frederic Vasseur, current boss of Alfa Romeo. Ferrari publicly denied them and described them as “unfounded rumors & rdquor; Information that has ended up being confirmed.
At least with regard to the first part, since the Italian team has not yet found the ideal candidate to lead the new Maranello project. binottowho no longer had the full confidence of the president John Elkann, has resigned before being fired and now, even without a replacement, the feeling is one of improvisation. Three months from the start of the new season, at Ferrari there is no defined direction.
“I have decided to end my collaboration with Ferrari. I leave the company I love with serenity and the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve my goals. I leave a united and growing team, strong, prepared to achieve the greatest goals. It is the right time to take this step and the decision is difficult & rdquor ;, says Binotto in the statement made public this Tuesday, which sets his official departure for December 31. The Italian Benedetto Vigna53 years old, CEO of the company and with notable experience in the technological field, will assume the functions of director of the Scuderia on an interim basis, on a provisional basis.
According to ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, which also anticipated the march of Binotto, Andreas Seidl (McLaren) has rejected the charge. From the Netherlands they assure that he was tempted to Christian Horner, but also said ‘No’. The negotiations with Frederic Vasseur They are not closed either. A nonsense that could be even greater if the 2023 car, in which Maranello has been devoted since summer, ends up being a winning car while binotto He awaits the mandatory six-month break by regulation to join another team (speculation places him at Mercedes or Sauber).
Against binotto The strategy errors and the few victories (only seven) in four years of management have weighed, as well as the 2019 engine, declared illegal by the FIA and that forced the Maranello team to face two seasons of crossing ‘through the desert’ ‘. In 2022, the car confirmed expectations and Charles Leclerc came to lead the World Championship after the first races, but when the budget ceiling was reached the positive inertia was broken and Ferrari ended up being ‘swept’ by Verstappen and Red Bull.
Sainz’s future
In Italy they also insistently point to another ‘sin’ of binotto: Do not bet everything on a single card and prefer a two-headed team with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The man from Madrid joined the team in 2021 at the hands of Mattiawho did not want to establish a hierarchy of pilot number 1 and 2. Sainz proved him right, by surpassing leclerc in the final standings of the championship. But this season, given the initial streak of the Monegasque and the problems of Carlos to adapt to the new car, the tifosi and the main media of the transalpine country harshly criticized the head of the Scuderia for not clearly opting for ‘Il predestinato’, as they call leclerc who are convinced that he will be the next Ferrari world champion.
The truth, however, is that Charles started the 2022 season with a 46-point advantage over Verstappen and finished it with a 146-point deficit, playing runner-up with Checo Pérez until the last lap in Abu Dhabi. Neither was Sainz’s balance, fifth at the end of the World Cup, the best possible balance. But the man from Madrid got his first victory (Silverstone) and ended up becoming more and more competitive behind the wheel of the F1-75.
The change of scenery at Ferrari, with the arrival of a new ‘main team’, can complicate things for Sainz if who takes over binotto designates him as number two against Leclerc. But you don’t have to dramatize from the start either. In F1 the results on the track are what ultimately end up establishing preferences. And if Carlos keeps progressing, he won’t have to worry about it.