Scuderia Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, says the team achieved their main goal of closing the gap to McLaren F1 Team in the constructors’ championship after scoring double points at the Spanish Grand Prix.
After a strong qualifying in Barcelona, Ferrari was set up for another promising result, and it was a stellar performance by Charles Leclerc, who drove home to a comfortable fourth-place for the second time this season, beating both of McLaren drivers.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr had a poor start, losing a few places from sixth on the grid, and could only finish as high as seventh, but was sandwiched in between Daniel Ricciardo in sixth and Lando Norris in eighth.
With Leclerc out-performing the two McLaren’s, Ferrari closed the gap to five points to the Woking-based team in the championship. Binotto reveals that was the main aim of the team throughout the weekend.
“A positive result with a good points haul that sees us close the gap to those just ahead of us. Achieving that was our main aim for the weekend and we succeeded.
“Charles drove an impeccable race. He was aggressive at the start and did a very good job of looking after his tyres, something that we have worked on a lot with him.
Despite a difficult start that cost Sainz a better result at his home Grand Prix, Binotto praised the Spaniard’s ‘heart’ to fight back.
“Carlos lost positions at the start and that cost him a better result, but he did not lose heart and fought back, making up quite a few places.
“We head home believing that we have taken a significant step forward compared to where we were in 2020.
“There’s still a lot of work to do to get the Scuderia back to where it should be and I was pleased to see that the whole team, both at the track and Maranello, is clearly keen to improve.”
