Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto recalled race simulations from the first day of free practice in Canada and said he expected strong pace from Carlos Sainz in the race
Victory once again failed to come for Ferrari in Formula 1 during last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, and Max Verstappen secured Red Bull's sixth consecutive championship win. However, Carlos Sainz made a good impression by chasing the reigning champion closely in the final laps after the restart and crossed the finish line less than a second behind the Dutchman. And the performance did not surprise team boss Mattia Binotto.
The Italian argued that the race simulations conducted on the first day of free practice already indicated that Ferrari would have a fast car in the race. He admitted that the team could not specify the distance to Red Bull, but that they were confident of a good performance after the first sessions.
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"Honestly, it was not a surprise," Binotto said. "If you look at the race simulations on Friday, Carlos [Sainz] was already very fast, and we were very close to the Red Bulls. So we knew we could fight. Not how close we would be, but we know that our car is competitive," said the team boss.
The boss also took the opportunity to praise the performance of Carlos Sainz, who returned to live a good moment after a sequence of complicated moments in the season - between breaks and accidents. According to Binotto, the Spaniard is increasingly confident in the F1-75 cockpit, which has allowed him to keep up with the speed of the reigning world champion at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
"Carlos is gaining confidence, he is driving faster and faster and it's good to see that," praised the Italian. "He was as fast as Max [Verstappen], if not a little bit faster," he assessed.
The next round of the 2022 season marks the return of Formula 1 to Europe: the British GP, the traditional round held at Silverstone, is scheduled to take place between July 1 and 3.