Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has clarified the guidelines that Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will race under to begin the 2019 season.
Just before the start of pre-season testing Binotto, who replaced Maurizio Arrivabene in January, declared the four-time world champion would remain the “priority” for the Scuderia during the championship fight.
That didn’t sit well with those who anticipate Leclerc can provide stiff competition for Vettel and now Binotto has made it clear his comments didn’t mean the Monegasque would play a ‘number two’ role to the German.
“Obviously the two will be free to fight, we will not ask Charles to be slow or [for] Sebastian to be faster, we need both of them to run to the maximum, try to do their best,” he explained in Barcelona.
“But certainly if there is a big situation at the start of the season, Sebastian is the one who’s got more experience. Many years he’s with us, he’s already won championships, so he’s our champion.”
The Ferrari chief would also vindicate his approach by suggesting it brought clarity to an area where the team wasn’t last year.
“I think that it’s good as well for Ferrari,” he claimed. “I think when you’ve got your intentions clear from the very start at least you do not make mistakes when you may have a bigger situation.”
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Also, the pace shown by the SF90 in testing has led many to believe Ferrari will start 2019 as favourites, with Lewis Hamilton even suggested they held a 0.5s per lap advantage over Mercedes.
“I’m happy to know that Hamilton thinks we are faster,” Binotto commented.
“I believe they are very strong, I believe that Mercedes will be very strong in Australia, and I think that it will be completely wrong to think that today we are faster than them.
“We know that here we might run different fuel levels, we’ve got different programmes, so I’m not expecting them to be behind us and it will be very close.”
Interestingly, when the chequered flag fell on the final day, however, Vettel and Hamilton’s best time were just 0.003s apart, perhaps backing up Binotto’s caution.
