Mattia Binotto took over as Ferrari team principal in the 2019 season, in the midst of a tumultuous period at Maranello, where they were in search of a general captain after losing two consecutive world championships against Mercedes.
However, the Italian was not someone new to the team, as he began his career in 1995 when he joined the motorsport department, so he was directly involved in the process until reaching the golden age with Michael Schumacher.
Many things have changed at Ferrari since then, but now it seems that they have regained their dominant position in the Grand Circus after two wins from three races in 2022. That is why the boss of the red ones wants to capitalize on his experience with the lessons learned in the past.
“It was a fantastic moment,” Binotto said of the stage in which he worked to turn the Maranello team into a winning team. “It’s not only that, I learned a lot from him [Schumacher], I took from him this mentality and the ability to be a leader, I will never forget it.”
His management at the head of Ferrari has been highly criticized, as he got rid of a four-time world champion like Sebastian Vettel for Carlos Sainz after his performances at McLaren. In addition, he was one of those who protected Charles Leclerc the most until the Monegasque self-proclaimed himself as one of the stars of the future in the category.
This earned him many negative comments that, added to the very poor 2020 season in which they lived through one of their worst years in history, created a really bad environment in the team.
However, the recovery in the last season with several podiums, two pole positions and being close to a victory at Silverstone, has changed the opinion in the paddock. The good start of 2022 has helped to grow even more, but Binotto says that this is not about hitting the key during the winter, but about a long process of several years.
“An important project like this takes seasons,” he told Bild . “It’s a long journey, and it’s far from over, there’s still a lot to do and there’s still room for improvement, we want to bring the Ferrari culture back to the team.”
“We are the only ones who have been in Formula 1 from the beginning, and we are also the most successful. We want to represent that now, this is embodied in our motto, ‘ Essere Ferrari ‘ (‘Be Ferrari’),” Binotto said.
