Mattia Binotto says those who claim Ferrari had an advantage over Mercedes and Red Bull in developing their car ahead of the 2022 season are "completely wrong". The Ferrari boss has his team sitting pretty at the top of the Constructors' Championship standings after the opening two rounds of the new Formula 1 campaign. His two drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, are also currently placed first and second in the Drivers' Championship standings, ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. It comes with Ferrari having built a car capable of winning races from the get-go for the first time since 2018.
Binotto says Ferrari "just did a good job"
To do so, Ferrari shifted focus from developing their 2021 car to building their 2022 car as soon as it became apparent that they were not involved in last year's title fight. Meanwhile, Mercedes and Red Bull continued to battle it out until the last lap of the season finale in Abu Dhabi. For some, that has offered Ferrari a clear advantage over their rivals. When asked if he agreed with that assessment, Binotto told German publication BILD : "No, that's completely wrong. "According to the rules, everyone was only allowed to start working in the wind tunnel and simulations on 1 January, 2021. "We may have put more focus on 2022, but we all started from the same point, and [we] just did a good job."
Ferrari are not ahead of their rivals (yet)
Despite holding the lead in both championships, Binotto said he cannot yet be sure that Ferrari have the car to beat in F1 this year. Instead, the 52-year-old will wait until after the Miami Grand Prix, the season's fifth event, before passing judgement on the 2022 pecking order. "I don't think we have an advantage over the others. Who has [the advantage] only becomes apparent after the first five races," he said. "The fact [is] that we got that double win in Bahrain and the podiums in Saudi Arabia as a team: drivers, mechanics, engineers and many more." Binotto summed up: "We are in a very solid position at the moment."
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