“To err is human, to persevere is diabolical.” Of course, anyone can be wrong; but not even recognizing the mistake is even more serious. There Ferrari she came out in pieces from Hungary, both in terms of classification and as a "group". The bone of contention concerned a factor that compromised the race of the main title candidate after Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque paid for yet another wrong strategy of the wall, who rather than lengthen the second stint with the Monegasque's medium bikes, as requested by him, decided to mount hard tires that didn't work on such a cold track. To then return to the reds in a final stint. That the hard tires didn't work could already be understood from the pace of those who had mounted them prematurely to extend until the end of the race, like the Alpines which nonetheless finished in the points. His adversaries also thought so, including Lewis Hamilton who with astonishment before getting on the podium addressed with "Ah, were they with the white girls?” to Max and George who replied having fun with a "Yes!". However, the factor that has fueled the doubts and controversies are the declarations of Mattia Binotto, Team Principal of Ferrari, and the discrepancies with the statements of its pilot.
Binotto: "The wall doesn't change"
Mattia Binotto at the end of the Grand Prix could hardly handle the pressure of an interview with the team Sky, wavering with declarations that are too diplomatic and not very convincing. The error in Hungary is not the first of the low wall, that already a Monaco ruined the race, again for Charles Leclerc. Rather than defend the decision of the driver who understood that this was not the right strategy, everything was reduced to a generalized inferiority of the F1-75. “The car didn't work as expected after Friday practice, Binotto said – he had no rhythm and we will have to investigate the causes to start again. This is our first concern today, any talk about strategies comes later”.
Regarding the controversy over the wall and on “cutting off some heads”, the most effective solution according to Binotto would not be to change but to improve the base that already exists. “Absolutely nothing needs to be changed at the wall. Other teams make mistakes, are the same for ten years, keep the same organization and then win a World Cup. I don't understand why you have to change after every single mistake”, le passwords of the team principal of the Scuderia di Maranello who then continued. “My approach is not to change, but to add, always: understand what doesn't work, correct and when I say add I mean improve. This is a strong foundation, the boys are showing mentality, determination and ability. Evidently we still have to grow and we will”.
It's okay to improve but if there is margin, and moreover the solidity of a house can be seen from its foundations. If these are wrong, improving will be a very difficult task.
Ferrari, the group is missing
Ferrari is not ready for the World Championship, not the F1-75 attention, but the Ferrari. The main differences from teams like Red Bull e Mercedes are the coldness and the solidity of the group, in victories as well as in defeats. A group that in the Ferrari house is starting to fall apart.
Charles criticized the strategies – having found himself on unmanageable hard tyres, while Carlos pointed his finger at the car. Binotto is of the same opinion as Carlos, evidently something was wrong with the Spaniard's car. But the same cannot be said of Leclerc who had some pace. The Monegasque is deeply embittered for taking the final blow to his World Cup dreams. Could he have done more? perhaps he rebelled, as perhaps Carlos did on several occasions. But the fact remains that the team cannot endorse the references of the rider who is on the track and knows exactly what he feels.
"I feel fit and I'm not happy, for nothing. The first and second set of medium tires were fine and I would have liked to continue, I asked to be able to do it but the decision was different and we mounted the hard ones. So we wasted a lot of time. I couldn't have avoided them at the time but I won't go into details, I say, however, that we will have to discuss it with the teamCharles said.
Instead, these are the statements of Sainz, which instead had problems in the pits: “The cold took us away. The car had no rhythm, he ate all kinds of rubber, he didn't even go with the soft ones. And I tried to overtake Verstappen with a pit stop but my stop lasted 4"6".
Binotto future at risk?
Said this the future of Binotto or of the wall is at risk? We don't know but the summer break could reserve us some surprises. A team in such difficulty despite the excellent performance of the car lends itself to a change that should come, would do it from the upper floors.
Statement source: Corriere Dello Sport; FormulaPassion
