Binotto says that both Ferrari F1 cars are identical
Oct.26 - Mattia Binotto insists that Sebastian Vettel is being supplied with a car that is "identical" to the one driven by his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
In Portugal, departing quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel finished tenth and a lap down compared to Leclerc in the sister car's impressive fourth place.
"You can see in the telemetry that the other car is much faster in some sections, I'm not an idiot," German Vettel said afterwards.
"I don't know if I should say more but I've tried everything. There are the lap times and there are my feelings, but I have to think that we have the same car because I trust the people around me," he added.
Team boss Binotto moved quickly to dispel any doubts about unfair treatment.
"Seb and Charles' cars are identical, there is no doubt about that," he told Sky Italia.
"Charles is certainly very good but maybe we can expect more from the second driver."
However, Binotto insisted that Vettel will remain in the car for the rest of the season.
"It's not a discussion at all," he said. "I'm also sure that he will get points again that will give him more self confidence.
"Here, I think Sebastian could have been faster in terms of his potential, but we can't put so much pressure on him now. We're doing everything we can to ensure that he can finish the season as well as possible."
The good news for Ferrari is that the updates introduced over the last trio of races appear to be working.
"We think the direction we are taking is the correct one," said Binotto. "We know which path to take so now we are pushing as much as possible for next year."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Binotto can say what he he likes but those 2 Ferraris are not equal. How is it possible that Seb's car is 0.5 sec. slower per lap than Charles. Seb cannot drive faster if car will not respond. I am sure that his setting on the car is different to Charles's and it is obvious that Ferrari cannot wait for Seb to finish this season.And Seb must feel sense of relief as he is moving on having wasted his years with team which has fallen from grace.
I don't understand why everyone is avoiding to state the obvious...Leclerc is simply faster than Vettel. Just like Verstappen is faster than Albon, Lewis is faster than Valteri, Perez is faster than Stroll and so on. Nobody is saying that they have different cars.
It takes a team to win. It's obvious that the other side of the garage works well together, taking input from the driver and making adjustments. Sebastian' s side of the garage seems to have forgotten that.
We will see next year when Vettel moves to AM. If he still has his desire and has not lost to much confidence I would expect him to dominate Lance Stroll. If he doesn't will there be suggestions of Lance getting a better car?
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.