“I’m happy to be able to count on both of them finally”- Mattia Binotto’s sly dig on Sebastian Vettel

“I’m happy to be able to count on both of them finally”- Mattia Binotto makes a dig at Sebastian Vettel as his faith in two-driver setup restores.

Ferrari had a decent start to the season by bagging P6 and P8 in the first race of the season, giving them a good momentum for their midtable fight of the season.

Whilst rejoicing his team’s achievement, Mattia Binotto didn’t miss taking a dig on his former driver Sebastian Vettel, as he claims that he can finally trust both drivers in the system.

“I’m really happy with the drivers; I’m happy to be able to count on both of them finally,” said Binotto, whose emphasis on the word “finally” would have likely left Vettel unimpressed.

“Carlos did an excellent job with the pace,” he added. “And then the motivation is important, the wish to grow as a team and not only with the drivers.”

“Today was just the first race, and they will understand where to improve. This season, we will not develop the car a lot because we’re already focused on 2022. We will bring some upgrades, but they must work, and they lead the car in the right direction.”

Carlos Sainz is a strong driver

If Leclerc finished with the sixth position, then Sainz coming eight on his debut is not a bad result, finishing in Binotto advocating Sainz quality on Ferrari car.

“We chose Carlos because we knew that he is strong during the race; he proved that today,” he told Sky Italia. “He’s gaining confidence with the car, and he’s settling in with the team very well; he’s working very well with Charles.

“Charles yesterday after the qualifying thanked Carlos for pushing him to do the best possible lap. So, I’m happy with both of them. Knowing that we can count on both of them is really important. The most important thing is to be motivated to keep growing.”

“Our opponents today are not Carlos for Charles and Charles for Carlos, but the cars ahead of us. The day when we will be ahead of all the other teams, our drivers will be allowed to fight also with each other.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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