F1, Ferrari and the flop at the Mexican GP From the engine to the set-up, the reasons – Corriere.it

«This time the goal was to limit the damage, without overdoing it. In races where you are in trouble you need to know how to maximize points. We knew we had to settle, Leclerc and Sainz were very responsible. Even in the initial battle they took no risks, the important thing was to get the cars to the finish ». Mattia Binotto tries to explain the reasons for Ferrari’s flop in the Mexican GP, ​​the worst race of this year in terms of performance, Carlos and Charles finished in fifth and sixth position, more than a minute behind Max Verstappen, taking up to one second per turn.

A worrying débâcle especially considering 2023, because in the second part of the season the Red team regressed, or rather it did not improve as much as the Red Bull. The last success dates back to July, in Austria, the last real competitive race was France. Singapore had gone a little better, then Suzuka and Austin had been difficult stages.

But not as much as Mexico City where the Cavallino raced with the engine weakened to avoid breakage, knowing that at 2,200 meters above sea level the turbo is put under stress. «But it’s not just a matter of power unit – replies the team principal -, we didn’t interpret the race well. We weren’t competitive even in qualifying. The thin air penalized our power unit more than the opponents, due to the type of mappings we used. But in Brazil, 800 meters high, I don’t expect engine problems. Our performance was not only due to power, there are many other reasons that we need to analyze. We knew it was going to be difficult but we didn’t expect it to be. Such a gap cannot be explained only by the engine ».

Then there is a fundamental point that Binotto touches, Ferrari has stopped development on the 2022 single-seater to dedicate itself exclusively to the next one. That’s why the F1-75 “stopped”: “Surely there was more potential to be extracted, but we couldn’t for budget cap reasons”. There are those who trace the decline of Ferrari with the introduction of the technical directive 39 anti-porpoising which would have modified the sensitivity of the car to variations in the set-up. Binotto replies: «The way our car is conceived, the lower it is, the faster it is. It applies to everyone, to us even more. This is why we suffer more on some tracks ».

In Brazil (where there is also the Sprint Race) there could be news for Sainz at the engine level, «every intervention in this phase is aimed at improving reliability but they are not yet definitive solutions for 2023. The engine for the next year he is shooting at the bench, it is a challenge to win ».