Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has denied any feeling of hatred between himself and his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff.
The two have often been on opposing sides on a number of issues, with the Austrian even previously being less than subtle in suggesting Binotto has contributed to the Italian team’s problems this season.
However, asked about their relationship at Imola, the Ferrari chief insists any bad blood is purely down to their competitive nature.
“Do we ‘hate’ each other? In a sporting respect, he is my main opponent who has been winning for many years, but it is not hatred,” he told Sky Italia.
“There is respect and a desire to beat him, but not for the sake of beating Toto and Mercedes. It’s to bring Ferrari back to the top, and the place where it deserves to be.”
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One of the main areas of contention between Binotto and Wolff was over Ferrari’s 2019 power unit and questions over its legality.
Those suspicions were only raised after the Scuderia and the FIA reached a private settlement following an investigation, while the performance of their engine took a significant step back this year.
Mercedes initially led the other teams in demanding more answers from Ferrari before later stepping back, but Binotto defended the private agreement.
“No opponent last year filed a protest against us. What was done later [after the season] started from the FIA’s desire to continue its investigations and analysis at a time when we were focused on developing the car for the 2020 season,” he said.
“We thus reached a simple agreement: let us focus on the future, let us help each other to understand what are the possible grey areas in the rules and where clarifications were needed, clarifications were made.
“The agreement was secret because it was obvious it should be. Should we have shown everyone our engine?
“I don’t think anyone has ever done that in Formula 1, and no one will ever do that in the future.
“With regards to the ‘grey’ area, it was like that throughout the 2019 season until new directives arrived, and they were also defined thanks to our help.
“These directives had an impact on all engines, but on us to a greater extent.”