Mattia Binotto says the performance levels shown by Scuderia Ferrari during Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix confirmed the team have made progress with their power unit.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth after a gamble to stay out on his original intermediate tyres did not pay off, while Carlos Sainz Jr. climbed from nineteenth on the grid to finish eighth, which could have been even better but for a slow pit stop.
Binotto, the Team Principal at Ferrari, admits that fourth and eighth does represent a good afternoon for the Maranello-based team, but the pace that both Leclerc and Sainz showed they had during the afternoon in Turkey means they cannot be completely satisfied with the result.
“This was a very intense race and it confirmed the good signs that had already emerged in very different dry track conditions on Friday,” said Binotto. “Istanbul is a very demanding track and we showed we were competitive, at least on this track and that’s why we can’t be entirely satisfied with the 16 points we picked up today.
“Charles had a great weekend, both in qualifying and the race. Together we tried to bring home an even better result and it’s a shame that in the end he didn’t make it to the podium, as that would have been well deserved.
“Carlos who came to Turkey with the grid penalty hanging over him, staged a great climb up the order, which took him all the way to eighth place.”
Binotto says the team are continuing to make good progress as they bid to return to the front of the field, but there is still plenty to do in order to be fighting with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Red Bull Racing on a regular basis.
However, the result in Turkey coupled with the McLaren F1 Team scoring only a seventh-place finish for Lando Norris means Ferrari have closed the gap to their rivals to just seven-and-a-half points with six races remaining.
“We continue to make progress but there’s still a lot of work to do to be regularly fighting for the win,” said Binotto. “We have to be realistic and continue to push to improve in every area.
“We can approach the remaining six races with confidence, in the knowledge that we have a package that allows us to fight right to the very end for third place in the Constructors’ championship, one of our stated aims for this season.”
