Mattia Binotto says Scuderia Ferrari are working ‘flat out’ to ensure their reliability issues are a thing of the past, but it was pleasing that in a weekend where they were expecting it to be a case of damage limitation, they were able to slightly close the gap to Oracle Red Bull Racing in the Constructors’ Championship.
Charles Leclerc started the Canadian Grand Prix weekend knowing he would be starting from the back of the field following an engine change after he lost another engine from his pool in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, he put in a great drive to climb fourteen places from his starting spot to finish fifth.
Carlos Sainz Jr. took second place, with the Spaniard putting intense pressure on Max Verstappen in the closing laps after pitting for fresh tyres behind the safety car. However, he came up just short, but his bonus point for fastest lap ensured Ferrari edged closer to Red Bull by a single point.
Binotto, the Team Principal and Managing Director at Ferrari, says the weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve proved reliability can affect anyone on the grid, with Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez retiring from the race with a suspected gearbox issue being proof.
“We came into this weekend knowing it would be a case of damage limitation, given we would have one car at the back of the grid and we came away from it having closed the gap slightly in the Constructors’ classification, after a race that demonstrated that reliability problems can affect everyone in the current Formula 1,” said Binotto.
“We have some of these issues and, back in Maranello, we are working flat out to fix them definitively. Charles did his very best, making up fourteen places from the back row to finish fifth.
“Carlos drove a great race, which demonstrated just how much confidence he now has in the car.”
Binotto says the team are looking ahead to the British Grand Prix at the beginning of July expecting their rivals to make some updates, but he hopes Ferrari are again competitive as they look to end Red Bull’s streak of six consecutive race victories.
“Now we head to Silverstone, where we expect our rivals to introduce some updates, but we certainly intend to be competitive there,” he said.