When news of Mattia Binotto’s resignation hit the headlines, Charles Leclerc thanked the Italian for their “intense” “difficult” 4 years together.
Ferrari announced on Tuesday that after 28 years in combination and 4 as team boss at Ferrari, Binotto would leave the team at the end of the season after submitting his resignation.
“I leave a company that I love, of which I have been part for 28 years, with the serenity that gives the conviction that I have done everything imaginable to achieve the objectives set,” said the Italian.
“I leave a united and developing team. A strong team, willing, I am sure, to achieve the highest goals, to whom I wish the future.
Binotto’s tenure ends after 4 years without a world name and this season Ferrari has won races, which it did not achieve in 2020 or 2021, it has not been enough for the superiors or Tifosi.
The Scuderia went from leading either championship after the Australian Grand Prix to a barrage of reliability and strategy errors that nonetheless saw the challenge of the name crumble even before the summer break.
They still finished P2 in either qualifying, but that was never Ferrari’s goal, with Binotto paying the value of his mistakes.
Leclerc, runner-up in the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career, paid tribute to the 53-year-old.
“Thank you for everything, Mattia,” she wrote on Instagram.
“We spent together 4 very intense years, of satisfaction and also, inevitably, of moments that challenged us.
“My esteem and respect for you has never wavered, and we have worked with total determination to achieve the same goals.
“Good with everything. “
Carlos Sainz paid tribute to the team boss who brought him to Ferrari.
“Grazie Mattia,” he said. It has been an emotion to work with you to move him and us forward against all odds.
“Thank you for the wonderful memories and moments we shared on and off a race track and all the long-term plans!”
Binotto will remain in the Formula 1 team until December 31, with Ferrari already suffering his replacement.
Ferrari Check driving force Antonio Giovinazzi also presented his words of support, calling the team boss one of the other “really important” people in his life.
“There aren’t many other really vital people in everyone’s life,” the Italian said. “We are not aware of it and we know how to capture the right moments to say thank you. “
“Mattia has been a reference, you will be and I will be grateful to you. “
2022 will end as the year Ferrari discovered the way back to victory, but like the season in which they squandered the chance to fight for the championship, some would even say the titles themselves.
Charles Leclerc 46 times ahead of Max Verstappen after Australia, with Ferrari ahead of Red Bull 49 times, but just three races later that merit was reversed and Ferrari continued.
With five retirements, adding 4 related to the car, in the first 8 races, it was temporarily transparent that Leclerc and Sainz would suffer the consequences of the engine for too long, and the drivers did not help through poor strategy decisions either.
Between DNF, engine penalties, failed methods and, let’s be fair, various motive force errors as well, Ferrari’s chances of winning the titles accelerated even before the summer break.
What I did not expect, as far as Binotto is concerned, that they would not even add a single victory to their overall of 4 in the current stretch of the season.
Their track messes were compounded by a lack of cash in the budget cap to continue improving the F1-75, a resolution to its unreliable PU and a bad step with the ground when the TD39 went into effect.
In a season that started so brilliantly for Ferrari, it’s the century-old story of what can go wrong.
Possibly it would also have been a case of not remembering how to win or how to fight for world titles, however, whatever the reason Binotto paid the price.
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