Mika Hakkinen has cast doubt on allegations that Ferrari engine Charles Leclerc got into a fight with outgoing team principal Mattia Binotto as the cause of his departure from the team.
Ferrari announced that Binotto had stepped down as team boss on Tuesday after a season in which the Scuderia stepped up in functionality from past seasons, but ultimately fell short of name glory in a car that took 12 poles in 22 seasons. , turning only 4 of their poles into victories.
Tensions are heightened on both sides of the garage, especially when strategy errors combined with mid-season reliability issues allowed Max Verstappen to turn his overall stuff into an impregnable advantage.
Binotto had been tense after Ferrari’s near-crashes this season, and the F1-75 proved to be at least an adjustment for Red Bull’s RB18 on the top circuits this season.
When presented with the option that Ferrari’s driving force had quarreled with his former team boss via Sky Sports, Hakkinen explained why he doesn’t think the theory is valid.
“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. I have this idea that when I was in Formula 1 racing, it’s not a question of whether you don’t like someone, it’s a question of how wise they are, how committed they are, how wise they are, how wise they are. . . That’s what matters.
“It doesn’t matter [if] you like them or not. It has nothing to do with your success. You know, you have to work as a team.
“You have to respect the ability of the people, the knowledge, the commitment of the sport. So, I don’t know. I doubt that’s the genuine story. “
Leclerc and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz posted messages of thanks on social media following the announcement of Binotto’s resignation, and the team principal will step down at the end of the year.
“Thank you for everything, Mattia,” Leclerc 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. “
By delivering Binotto’s departure, Ferrari showed that its procedure to identify its new team principal was ongoing.
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