“I have the ambition to go into the race to win”: Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto won’t settle for second place in the opening race in Bahrain

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto insists that his team will go into the Bahrain GP with the sole objective of winning it. 

Expectations are high from Ferrari going into the 2022 season. Since the start of last year, the Italian outfit made it clear that 2022 was their main goal.

Last year Ferrari finished third in the standings after a dismal sixth place finish in 2020. The results improved for the Scuderia after the arrival of Carlos Sainz from McLaren.

The Spaniard’s quickness in settling into the team earned him plenty of plaudits, as he finished the season ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc. Many people feel that the Sainz-Leclerc duo, is the strongest driver pairing coming into the new campaign.

Stronger #essereFerrari pic.twitter.com/JQTgpuZkwZ

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 15, 2022

Both drivers looked very strong during pre-season testing, in Barcelona and Bahrain. Ferrari completed the most number of laps of all teams, which gives positive hopes to the Tifosi, in terms of engine reliability.

Now that the first race of the season is only a few days away, the Italian team will hope to carry on their good form into the opening round.

Also read: Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto on why Charles Leclerc holds the upper hand on Carlos Sainz

Ferrari won’t be settling for second place, insists Mattia Binotto

The last time Ferrari had a ‘race winning’ car was in 2019. That was Charles Leclerc’s first season with the Scuderia, and he narrowly missed out on the win in Sakhir.

In a recent interview with Motorsport Italy, Binotto hopes to avoid a repeat of that. While the 53-year old hasn’t publicly acknowledged that they have a Title winning package, he aims to finish first in as many races as possible.

“No, we want to be able to fight every race and so at the start, I would not settle for second,” he said.

“I don’t presume to say that it wouldn’t be a satisfying result, but I do have the ambition to go into the race to win.”

Ferrari are the most successful team in F1 history but they’ve spent over a decade in the shadows of Mercedes and Red Bull. With an improved car and an exciting driver pairing, the will be hoping to start their ascend back to the top this season.

As Carlos Sainz said in the latest season of Drive to Survive, “At Ferrari, we don’t aim to come third. We’re here to win.”

Also read: Ted Kravitz remains unsure of Alpine’s gesture of offering Oscar Piastri to McLaren