Binotto: “Second Mercedes error like ours and nobody said anything”

Scuderia might not have had the pace to keep up with RBR and Mercedes at the Mexican GP, ​​but they had the right strategy – the one that also gave Max Verstappen a walk-off win at Hermanos Rodriguez’s circuit: Soft start , center change a single pit stop.

Mercedes F1, on the other hand, later found that their own decisions were wrong: Lewis Hamilton and George Russell started on the middle tire and during one of their pit stops they put on the hard one. As a result, while the two W13s had the speed to threaten the Dutch in these conditions, the wrong strategy deprived the two British of that ability.

“Mercedes has now made the second mistake in choosing tires and nobody falls for them. At Ferrari, mistakes are always criticized twice as harshly.” Binotto said this – not to criticize Mercedes, but in the form of a complaint about the harsh treatment the Scuderia had to endure for two strategic mistakes earlier this year.

And it’s not just the strategy, but the issues that cause pit stop delays. Ferrari were heavily mocked for a poor pit stop by Sainz earlier this year, but Red Bull had no trouble changing tires for the second straight season – Max Verstappen in Austin and Sergio Perez in Mexico.

The Maranello-based Italian team boss also pointed to Mercedes’ looming second place in this year’s Constructors’ Championship – a position that offers the respective winning team several million dollars more than their share of the television rights. Ferrari have a lead of just 40 points with two races (of which the Brazilian GP also has a sprint) before the end of this season.

Speaking of that fight, Binotto commented: “Mercedes has been developing its car more aggressively lately. We retired earlier and devoted ourselves exclusively to that [αυτοκίνητο του] 2023″. Additionally, the Italian isn’t worried that the F1-75’s performance in Mexico will be repeated in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, the final two races of the year.

Speaking to Germany’s Auto, Motor und Sport, Binotto explained that in Mexico, Ferrari was forced to limit the power of the drive units in its two cars because the small turbocharger combined with the insufficient oxygen at the circuit’s 2,240m altitude was affecting the engine’s reliability endangered .

Consequently, he sees the poor performance in Mexico – where Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had no hope of a podium for the first time this year – as a parenthesis: “I don’t see a negative pattern here. Mexico was something extreme. On the other hand, we were still a long way from where we want to be in other areas, and we have to ask ourselves what the reasons for that were.”

The areas Binotto is referring to are undoubtedly the lack of grip – and therefore the balance of settings – of the F1-75 evident throughout the three days in the hands of mostly Leclerc and less so Saint. And these are questions that the Scuderia must clarify before Interlagos.

Photo credit: Associated Press