Binotto about special week: "We celebrated our 90th anniversary just before Monza"

High expectations

As it is nowadays, they speak to each other through a video call. The men sit safely at home and look back on last year. The year that started full of expectation for everyone with a red Ferrari heart. 

"We started with high expectations after the winter tests but that was disappointing in the beginning. There were some bad results but also missed opportunities like in Bahrain. In the end we went the winter break with a gap of six seconds to Hungary. After the winter break there were equal chances. We knew because of the long straights that we had chances for Spa and Monza but the pressure was high. That's where it had to happen."

Immediately after the winter break Leclerc won at Spa. It was Ferrari's first victory that season. "Charles won in Belgium. He came from a victory but it was a difficult weekend because of the death of a good friend. He just wanted to get into the car as soon as possible when we arrived at Monza."

Monza and 90th anniversary

Around that time they also had a big party at Ferrari in Milan because of its 90th anniversary. "So we had the victory at Spa, the party in Milan at piazza del doumo was on the following Wednesday, and from there we went to Monza. The adrenaline was high when we got there."

The party clearly gave the team motivation but also created extra pressure. From Friday at Monza it was clear that Ferrari was fast.

"Being a Ferrari this is an opportunity and we were aware of that. Monza is Monza. We are always under pressure. By the way, the victory was no surprise for us at Monza. We knew on Friday that it was going to be a good weekend. The drivers came out of the car with a smile and the set-up was right pretty quickly. Then you're certainly not there yet but we started right away with the good feeling."

In the end Leclerc won for the second week in a row and the party could be celebrated in front of thousands of fans.