Ferrari have been very hot and cold this season, getting off to a flying start with a 1-2 finish in Bahrain before team errors and reliability issues saw Max Verstappen and Red Bull sail off into the distance.
Some fans of the Scuderia have become frustrated with team principal Mattia Binotto, who took over the role in 2019, following their team’s capitulation in the second half of 2022.
The fan’s main frustration is with the manner of their shortcomings, often having the pace in the car to compete at the top, but with team decision making costing them dearly.
Ferrari chose to use the hard tyres in Hungary despite data suggesting they were a poor race tyre, pitted Charles Leclerc in Spa for the fastest lap but cost him a position, and made a pit stop call in Monaco which cost both drivers a shot at the win, amongst other mistakes.
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Footage has now emerged of fans shouting ‘Binotto out’ at Maurizio Arrivabene, the team principal who preceded Binotto, who now is the CEO of Juventus.
The former Ferrari man, who held his role between 2014 and 2019 nodded and laughed in response to the shouts, before double taking and gesturing that he was not being serious, perhaps realising that he was being filmed.
Binotto and Arrivabene shared a tension-filled relationship during their time together at Ferrari, with Binotto being chosen to take the team forward in 2019, seeing Arrivabene dropped from his role.
The writing had been on the wall for a while however, with Binotto being a wanted man in F1 following his growing reputation in Ferrari’s technical team, and the Scuderia underperforming, partly down to mistakes from the team principal.
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Vettel had a chance to challenge for the title in 2018, but when Arrivabene refused to tailor qualifying plans to help the German get pole position, and then made another strategy error during qualifying in Japan, the former Red Bull driver was essentially taken out of title contention.
The now Juventus CEO’s reaction to the Binotto out shouts may have been out of bitterness, but it is still not a good look for the Scuderia.
Binotto will be hoping to win the fans back over with a strong end to the season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, with many hoping that he can spearhead a more serious title charge in 2023 with Red Bull wounded from their cost cap punishment.