Ferrari are still ‘far from best performance’

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says the Scuderia still have plenty more pace to show, after a productive time in Barcelona.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc combined to rack up more laps than any other team throughout the pre-season shakedown, with 439 tours around the Circuit de Catalunya as the team collected valuable data on the 2022 cars for the first time.

Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz believes Ferrari appeared to have a strong enough package to have Mercedes “worried” about their speed, while Sainz tried to temper expectations by saying he has “no clue” where they stand at the moment.

While some teams are expected to bring significant upgrades to the official pre-season test in Bahrain from March 10, Binotto does not expect Ferrari to make the same kind of changes to their car and make the most of what’s available to them.

But with that, he admitted the team have not shown their full hand just yet.

“It will not be much different compared to what we got,” Binotto told reporters after the three days of running in Barcelona.

“The first step for us is to optimise what we have, as Carlos said, we are still far from the best performance, not only because we are running high fuel or the best engine mode, but simply because I think there is a lot more to exploit from the car itself.

“Today we are focused more on that one, not only in terms of setup & engineering but also driving style.

“Let’s wait and see what the others will bring, certainly as Ferrari we are always concerned on upgrades of our competitors & I think they will be very strong by then.”

Ferrari have been touted by many as a potential contender for race victories in the early part of the year, with Fernando Alonso predicting his former team are ahead of the rest at the moment, while George Russell also believes the Scuderia and McLaren are currently ahead of Mercedes in the pack, while Red Bull are still yet to unleash their true pace.

With the upcoming engine freeze locking in power unit specifications for the next four seasons, the team emphasised the need to produce an engine capable of matching their Mercedes and Honda rivals in terms of raw power – opting for performance over reliability as they look to bring themselves back to the front.

PlanetF1 Verdict

Ferrari still ‘far from best performance’

Mattia Binotto states that Ferrari still have more to give after a productive Barcelona testing.