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Binotto disappointed Ferrari "still don't have the quickest car" in F1

18:46, 09 Dec 2019

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Despite going on a three-race winning streak after the summer break and on an incredible streak of pole positions, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto thinks the Scuderia still didn't have the quickest car on the grid.

Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel took every single pole position from the Belgian Grand Prix up until and including the Mexican Grand Prix, although Leclerc only got pole at the latter due to a penalty for Max Verstappen.

Ferrari only managed to convert three of these pole positions into a win, with a Vettel-led one-two finish in Singapore being the best result for Ferrari in over two years.

Despite the great vein of form Ferrari were in coming out of the winter break, Binotto isn't convinced his team possessed the quickest car on the grid at that moment, nor do they now.

"The Singapore package was the most important building block, but definitely not the only one," the Italian told Auto Motor und Sport.

"We understood the balance of the SF90 a lot better, but Singapore gave us extra downforce that was important for us to improve cornering. Unfortunately, we still didn't have the quickest car after that, which became clear in the races."

Ferrari have notoriously cost themselves wins at times due to poor strategic calls or because of their drivers' individual errors, but Binotto didn't think the title would have been realistic even if those errors wouldn't have been made.

"It's true we could have won many more races, but to win a title you need the quickest and most reliable car. We had neither. We're not far from it, however. We have to close the gap and that's doable."