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Binotto points out 'incredible' differences between 2022 F1 cars

F1's new regulations for 2022 have seen teams pursue different approaches in the design of their new cars, with Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto hailing the degree of variation on this year's grid.

Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says it is "incredible" to see the variety in F1 teams' interpretations of the sport's new regulations for 2022, adding that his team may seek to draw inspiration from others' approaches. The new rules, which impose tighter limits on bodywork, have seen teams pursue noticeably different design philosophies in order to try to extract the maximum performance from their cars. "There are certainly good ideas from the other cars, and it's quite incredible how different the shapes are from one car to another," Binotto told media, including RacingNews365.com , after F1's first three-day pre-season test at Barcelona last month. "Everybody is performing well. So now, we will certainly try to pick a few ideas, try to simulate or test them, and let's see, that may bring some more performance to our research as well."

Ferrari's 2022 car "responding well"

Binotto also said drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had praised the early progress of Ferrari's F1-75 after the three days in Barcelona. After a winless couple of seasons, the Scuderia started 2022 in a positive fashion by completing the most laps of any team in Barcelona, logging 439 tours of the Circuit de Catalunya without any major reliability concerns. While Leclerc's best time of 1:19.689 was slower than those set by Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren drivers, the Monegasque was using a harder tyre compound than those three teams, and set his time on the third tour of a 17-lap stint, meaning his F1-75 would have been heavier at the start of that run. "The basic feedback [from Leclerc and Sainz] is that the car is responding well in terms of driving balance and drivability, so I think that's a good baseline," said Binotto. "But it's still a very, very long championship, and I'm expecting our competitors to be very, very strong."

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