Ferrari ‘paying the price’, could have won ‘8 out of 13 races’ so far

Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto feels the team are “paying the price” for the leap in engine development which they needed compared to Red Bull.

After spending two seasons battling in the midfield, Ferrari looked to use the new regulations for 2022 to bring themselves back into the fight at the front, coming armed with not only a new-look challenger, but also an all-new power unit.

Both have combined to make Ferrari a leading force once again, but it is Red Bull who lead the way comfortably, Max Verstappen 80 points clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship, while Ferrari trail Red Bull by 97 in the Constructors’.

In this respect, reliability of the power unit has let Ferrari down in a major way on several occasions, Leclerc retiring from the lead in Spain and Baku, while Carlos Sainz looked a good bet to finish at least P2 in Austria before his PU let go.

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After 13 rounds, Red Bull sit on nine wins for the season, with Ferrari having claimed the other four. According to Binotto, since the Ferrari power unit had more ground to make up compared to Red Bull’s Honda PU, this development jump is costing them in terms of reliability.

Asked by Auto Motor und Sport if it is safe to say that Ferrari are faster, but Red Bull more efficient so far this season, Binotto replied: “I see it differently. The cars are practically the same speed. We are within a tenth of each other. You can’t say that one car is better than the other. There are tracks that suit us a bit better and tracks where Red Bull is ahead.

“In the end, it’s the set-ups, the outside conditions and the drivers’ form on the day that decide. That also applies to the efficiency of the cars.

“At the beginning of the season, Red Bull was better. They had a rear wing that was more efficient when DRS was activated. We reduced the deficit with a new wing. The balance is a good thing because the cars are so different. And yet we get to the same goal.

“Out of 13 races, we only won four. Red Bull is indeed more efficient. But we could have won eight times without our problems. So, the balance would have been the other way round.

“The truth is probably in the middle. Yes, Red Bull also had reliability problems. But they were never in the lead when they failed. With us it was always the other way round. In Spain, in Azerbaijan and in France [when Leclerc crashed out of the lead].

“In terms of stability, we are paying the price for the big leap in development we have made. There is much more new about our engine than our opponent. We had to make up a big gap.”

Binotto, who formerly headed Ferrari’s engine department, said that in his time with the team he has never seen such a jump forward in performance.

But, with a freeze on engine development now in play, with only reliability changes permitted, Binotto said that Ferrari could not afford to carry over any of their past inefficiencies.

Plus, Binotto says that the limitations in place on dyno hours, as well as Honda’s built-up mileage with their power units, means Ferrari are at a disadvantage currently with theirs.

So, now Ferrari can focus on creating a solution which makes their power unit more reliable as soon as possible.

Asked to clarify that the power unit problems are due to aggressive development, Binotto replied: “We are definitely paying the price. It was clear to us that we had to go to the limit. After all, we couldn’t take our backlog into an era where engine development is frozen.

“The goals we set ourselves were very ambitious. I have never seen such a leap forward in my 27 years at Ferrari. It was an extraordinary achievement, especially at a time when dyno hours are limited. And that’s what we paid for in terms of reliability.

“In normal years, we would have ramped up the dyno hours and started parallel programmes for performance and reliability. This time we had a choice.

“Now, when I count the hours we put into the new engine and compare them to what Honda put into their power unit, we are certainly at a disadvantage. Honda had the experience because they built on an existing engine. We are doing it now. On the track and on the dyno. The goal is to fix the problems as soon as possible.”