Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says that one of the key factors towards the Scuderia’s improvements in 2022 has been a greater sense of responsibility from everyone at the team.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are aiming to win Ferrari’s first Drivers’ Championship in 15 years, while the Italian side’s last constructors’ title came about over 13 years ago.
In the last three seasons since their last real title push with Sebastian Vettel in 2018, Ferrari have won just five races with a combination of Vettel and Leclerc, and they failed to win at all in 2020 or 2021.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann previously affirmed that the “individuals” of the past have now become one positive unit, and Binotto agrees that everyone has had to pull together to restore the unity that has won the team 31 championships in their illustrious history.
“We worked a lot on that,” he told the BBC.
“It is taking the error more as an opportunity of a lesson learned, rather than blaming and pointing fingers.
“It is all about being brave enough to hear, to listen and to do something which is really open-minded. It is about working as a team, a single individual understanding the common responsibility.”
The Italian is now solely the team principal having tried to combine that role with chief technical officer in 2019.
This is an awfully big workload for one person to cover, so this role is now shared between Enrico Cardile and Enrico Gualtieri, who masterminded Ferrari’s exceptional engine and chassis concept this season.
“You cannot do well in both, it’s only then we moved into an organisation where I was no longer technical director but we have clear responsibilities,” stated Binotto.
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Cardile was signed to Ferrari’s Formula 1 operation in 2017, so has had five years gaining an intimate knowledge of the design unit of the car and, as they say, practice makes perfect.
“He certainly did not have the skills specific to F1. But since then he has got five years on technical matters of F1, so is a lot stronger, and that’s the same for everyone in their proper role,” Binotto explained.
“Five years on, we have stronger skills and better people.
“We have employed more than 30 people from other teams, people who brought fresh ideas, new methodologies.
“The team is people, culture, tools and methodology. The car is simply the product of the team, starting in 2017 with a good base but not with the right experience, skills and tools.
“Since then, step by step going through 2019, 2020, we have got to where we are today.”
Leclerc’s two wins in 2022 leave him second in the Drivers’ Championship, nine points adrift of leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull.