When Binotto, a year ago, said about Ferrari: “Our goal was to be competitive again, not to win the title”

In 2022 Binotto talked about competition. In 2023 the championship goal is already gone after seven races

A year ago Mattia Binotto, at that time Ferrari Team Principal, gave an interview to the BBC where he clarified some details about the goals that Ferrari set for the 2022 season.

Goals that Binotto had already talked about at the start of the season, just before Bahrain which would see a Ferrari one-two, with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz and the Red Bulls all eliminated. Here is part of his words.

“We have set ourselves the goal of being competitive again in 2022”, Binotto told the British broadcaster, adding “so the goal is not to win the title and it would be completely wrong to change it to ‘let’s try to win the world championship because we are competing'”.

Still: “Being competitive is one thing, being world champions is another thing, remembering that it helps to take the pressure off the team, but I think it would be wrong as management to change the goals from what was said. What worries me is not the machine itself but our ability to progress, compared to others“.

“I think it will take time for the championship. Our inner thoughts are that we still need to improve as a team to be able to win the championship. It does not mean that we will not succeed, but we will do it as soon as the opportunity is available, knowing that it is more necessary than just being competitive.”.

A year after these words, many things have changed. The two main points are that Mattia Binotto is no longer Ferrari Team Principal and that Ferrari, after seven races today as last year, finds itself with half the points for 2022 in the constructors’ championship, 100 against 199. The SF-23 is in fourth place in the constructors’ standings, the F1-75 took second place despite some retirees already registered between Leclerc and Sainz.

Another difference is in the declarations at the beginning of the year: “Our intention is to be able to fight in every race to get the best result” Said Binotto during the presentation of the F1-75. “One seat that will be unmatched in terms of speed”so AD Vigna had christened the SF-23. “The goal can only be the crown” on the other hand, Frédéric Vasseur, who had just taken the post as the new Team Principal in place of Binotto, had said that he “released”, let’s say, at the end of 2022.

Regardless of how things went, it’s hard not to notice how the early season targets set by the Reds (or by Binotto?) have been technically honoured, with Ferrari 2022 finishing second as constructors and returning to win races, which it hasn’t. it has not happened since 2019. It is clear that the excitement of the start of the 2022 season has led to asking (or demanding?) something more than a return to competition, and this could be one of the worst mistakes, that is to push the focus more than it was established.

How the season would develop, then, we know. Binotto’s fear of the potential of development would have turned into reality. And it is also difficult to attribute TD039 Technical Instructions part of the “blame” for the loss of performance of the F1-75 from a certain point in the championship onwards.

The fact is that, if we limit ourselves to considering the goals of the early season and the final results of 2022, there is a correlation between the two times. When, if we consider the launch of this beginning of 2023 and the current results, the difference is bad and big. Ferrari, instead of moving forward, seems to return to the level of 2021, when Ferrari had 94 points in the standings after seven races (but without a race), six less than now.

It can be said that top changes take time to bring their benefits, but this was a known effect (or at least, it should have been) when changing Team Principals (and everything that comes from it) after only one season of a new technical cycle.

No one has a crystal ball and no one can say what Ferrari would be like today and Binotto is still leading. If we talk briefly about the goals, however, the main thing is one: those of 2022, at least those set by the Team Principal, have been respected. While the Ferrari of 2023, the it was supposed to be unparalleled in terms of speed, with a surprising miss, turned back the clock not by one year but by two, when the feeling of not being able to win a single race was clear from the start. Same as today, after only seven races.

Photo: Average Ferrari