She calls him “Harry Potter” as if he could do magic. But that’s just a nice story. Mattia Binotto wears black round glasses and curly dark hair, but he doesn’t exude a hint of magic. Quite the contrary: the team boss at Ferrari has rarely stepped so depressed in front of the television cameras as on Sunday afternoon in Spielberg. “It hurts, it really hurts,” said the fifty-year-old. The team’s media session in the evening was canceled without further ado, instead the Italians sent a press release out into the Formula 1 world. The title: “A weekend to forget”.
Just twenty seconds after the start, Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari crashed into the teammate Sebastian Vettel’s racing car, so that the carbon parts just flew over the course. The German lost his rear wing, at Monegassen there was a huge hole in the underbody in front of the left rear wheel. The question of guilt was quickly resolved, the cause was confessing. At Canal +, Leclerc said: “It was clearly my mistake, there is no discussion. Today I was an asshole, I can’t find any other word for it. In our situation, we have to take every opportunity. Today I screwed it up. “
Just a week ago, he had caused a big surprise with second place in Austria, but benefited above all from three safety car interruptions and penalties for the competition.
Ferrari tumbles through Formula 1
The Ferrari with the type number SF1000 lacks class, in the dry it has too little engine power, in the wet too little downforce. And the team is currently lacking cohesion and an idea of how to connect to the top. “Red disaster” wrote the “Gazzetta dello Sport” the day after. “One thing is certain: since the death of Ferrari’s President Sergio Marchionne, the Scuderia seems disoriented,” wrote “Tuttosport”.
The current crisis is more than just a bad phase. Ferrari is stumbling through Formula One – and indeed, a lot has changed since Marchionne succumbed to cancer in July 2018 at the age of 66. Marchionne had rigorously trimmed the racing team back towards the world title. Then the internal power struggles began. The previous team boss Maurizio Arrivabene had to leave, and Marchionne was always one of his advocates. But John Elkann, heir to the powerful Italian Agnelli clan and new president of Fiat and Ferrari, dropped Arrivabene and instead relied on Binotto, who was previously head of the engine department and then technical director.
It was a decision that did not just mean a change in the position of the team boss, it also changed the climate in the team, the mindset of the mechanics, engineers and drivers. Wherever Arrivabene was, there was always a bit of chaos, his English was strongly influenced by Italian singing. But where Arrivabene was, there was often a good mood, and if the team or a driver failed, he would protect himself. Like a human being as a wall – almost two meters tall, weighing almost 100 kilograms. Binotto is more of a cool calculator, he has a tender voice, on Sunday he said: “It is not the time for accusations now. We have to continue with our work. Difficult moments get the best out of your people, and I’m sure we’ll prove it. ”But it doesn’t sound like a signal of rearing up. Binotto should also be clear that it has long been about his job.
Ferrari is no longer an opponent for Mercedes, yes, even Red Bull, Racing Point, McLaren and Renault are currently faster. “Of course you are badly beaten,” said Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff: “We want a strong Ferrari, that is an incredible brand with hard-working people. We need Ferrari at the front in the fight with all other great teams. ”Because without a team like Ferrari, which at least claims the World Championship title as the season goal, Mercedes is even more lonely at the top than it has been in previous years.
Vettel is looking for the positive
Ross Brawn, currently Formula 1 sports director and technical director at Ferrari from 1997 to 2006, is one of those who knows the soul life of Scuderia. “I know from my own experience that media pressure in Italy can be incredibly high. Those responsible have to make sure that it does not reach their people, ”says the Briton. Because it would take time for success to reappear: “You won’t turn it around overnight, there is a long way to go.”
If someone went ahead after the race in Spielberg, it was the man who had to leave the team at the end of the season: Vettel stood straight in front of the cameras, he looked calm and said: “We have to make sure that we don’t pull ourselves down too much so that getting up is not so difficult for us. ”But what role does he still play in the team? How much is still heard, who has become world champion four times in his Formula 1 career, but who will be history at Ferrari in a few months? And for whom it is not even certain that he personally has a future in the premier class of motorsport?
Nevertheless, Vettel looked for the positive in the bad and said: “The good news is that we have the next race ahead of us and I don’t have to wait too long to get back in the car. I hope Hungary is a better place for us. ”He really has to be an optimist. Because other characters would be happy if they didn’t have to go on a track with this racing car, which has long been considered the worst that has left the racing car factory in Maranello for a decade. But Vettel knows that he has to enjoy every lap – as strange as that may sound.
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