The pre-season tests in Barcelona have caused Mattia Binotto to act as a ‘fireman’ to put out the fire that could be produced by the great performance in the Ferrari among the tifosi, exultant at the results on the Catalan track.
After seeing that the F1-75 has been born well, those from Maranello have collected a large amount of data to improve development, although the comments of the pair of drivers are already positive in this regard, and it seems that there is no fault in particular.
For this reason, Binotto remains silent, waiting for the “surprises” that Mercedes had prepared to take to Bahrain in the W13 , which will be updated for the second week of winter tests.
“We are happy, first of all, because we have managed to do a lot of laps, we have known the car and collected a lot of data,” explained the Italian. “But if we talk about timing, I think it’s too early.”
“In the tests, each team rolls in different conditions, and they are all faster than we have seen in recent days. It was important for us to accumulate kilometers and collect as much information as possible, and now we return to Maranello to analyze them before from Bahrain,” the Ferrari boss said.
“The objective now is to try to optimize the car for the next tests,” added Binotto, who remains cautious within the structure of the Prancing Horse before seeing the performance of Mercedes and Red Bull.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expects the red car to be competitive, and he uttered a phrase that caused quite a stir in the paddock: “It gives the feeling that Ferrari has the best engine on the grid right now.”
These words serve to create an incredible expectation about what could be expected from the 2022 season for the Italians, who hope to rediscover the prominence lost in recent years in the Great Circus.
Helmut Marko , for his part, has a different opinion from the Mercedes boss: “The Ferrari seems solid, but how much gasoline did it have?”
The Red Bull adviser was not shy about the performance of the Milton Keynes firm’s rivals, only “focusing” on who can upset reigning world champion Max Verstappen. Unlike Wolff, Marko seems to be trying to undermine the morale of the tifosi who are optimistic about 2022.
However, the lapidary phrase he told Auto Motor und Sport is symptomatic that they do not take Ferrari into account for the battle for the title, and it seems that they believe that their only true opponent is, as in 2021, Mercedes. Knowing how the Red Bull member’s personality is, this could also be a strategy to destabilize Ferrari before reaching the opening round on March 20 in Bahrain.
