Binotto admits Ferrari driver meetings were "difficult to manage" in 2019
F1 News
Mattia Binotto has confirmed his driver meetings between Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc became "very difficult to manage" and were "full of embarrassments" as the Ferrari team prepare for the 2019 season. As the season progressed, the Ferrari performance unravelled further to Mercedes dominance once again. During the year, there were a number of events which cropped up between the two drivers which caused some politics within the garage.
While it was entertaining from a fan's perspective, those who support Ferrari or are involved in the Ferrari team would have felt frustration. Binotto, who was in his first season in the team boss role, had to try and keep the peace between his young gun Leclerc and experienced four-time world champion, Vettel.
However, flashback to the start of the season when Binotto first tried to manage the two, he labelled Vettel as the main driver to push for the title. This meant that Vettel had the edge when things were at a 50/50 level.
“And believe me, that that type of meeting at the very start of the season was full of embarrassments and difficult to manage,” Binotto said during a media lunch and is quoted by Motorsport.com.
Despite more trouble brewing during the season, Binotto says the team as a whole managed to get used to the situations.
“By the end of the season, it became comfortable more and more, which means that we are getting used to it as a team. In the race, we can still make eventually mistakes but I'm pretty sure that mistakes are part of this process. It is often said we should have let them race in the very first race. We are still very convinced that trying to manage them is the best way in order to score team points when you get to the end of the season," Binotto continued.
“And we believe that if you are optimising the team points at the end as well, you also optimise what may be the outcome for the drivers. So we were trying to manage them in the very first race. the reason for needing to manage them is high because both of them are good drivers and need to be respected as individuals because both of them when starting the race, they have one objective – which is not beating their teammate, but being first under the chequered flag.”