Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto regretted another problem-filled race after the retirements of Leclerc and Sainz
It is impossible to think of a sporting situation that would make this Sunday's Azerbaijan GP worse than it was for Ferrari. Both drivers abandoned in the first half of the race with car problems entirely and opened the way for the only rival in the championship to score perfect points with a double and the fastest lap. Even with new serious reliability defects, Ferrari is asking for calm.
Mattia Binotto, head of the Maranello squad, has pointed out that reliability is really an issue for Ferrari. This is obvious, since Leclerc has abandoned two of the last three races with engine blowouts. Carlos Sainz was left by the wayside due to a hydraulic problem. Binotto wants patience to understand what happened and work to resolve it.
"It's certainly a concern. We said before that reliability is a fundamental factor in the battle, because in terms of performance, we worked hard to develop the car. But we have shown that we are not totally reliable. We still have work to do, and we need to stay focused and try to respond to the problems. If we do that, we will be stronger in the future," he said.
"First of all, we have to analyze and understand what happened today, because not all problems are the same. Maybe some of them are possible to solve quickly. Honestly, I don't know. Let's take time to analyze and understand. The abandonment of Carlos was hydraulic, it was not the same as Barcelona. Maybe it is easy to solve. We have to remain patient and understand," he continued.
In relation to the client teams and their abandonments, the Ferrari boss followed the same line. After all, besides his two drivers, Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen also abandoned.
"We need to analyze. Zhou's abandonment is not linked to the components we provided, but we want to understand. Whatever is happening is always useful to know," he concluded.
Formula One returns next week, June 17-19, in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.