Ferrari won six constructors’ titles and five drivers’ titles with Michael Schumacher as their star driver between 1999-2004.
When the 2022 season began, Ferrari showed a strong start as Charles Leclerc finished on the podium back-to-back. The Italian giants even bagged a good championship lead to race for the title but soon Red Bull swooped in and took the advantage away.
Since then, a number of poor strategy calls and reliability issues have caused a lot of trouble for Ferrari and its drivers.
This brought a lot of criticism for the Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and some even suggested firing Binotto from the team.
Between 1999-2004, Ferrari and their star driver Michael Schumacher boomed. The team won six constructors’ titles and five drivers’ titles.
Then again the team won the drivers’ title with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and the constructors’ title in 2008. But since then a long drought has doomed the Italian team.
Asked what is holding the team back in their quest to rise up to the top, Binotto said that the winning mentality from the Schumacher era pushed the team to do better after every victory.
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Ferrari needs to do more than just homework
Back at the time, Ferrari of course had the all-time greatest driver with them and currently, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are a long way to go to reach that level.
And Binotto admitted that the team needs to do more than just homework to get back to the top. He has seen Ferrari’s glory days and the bad days in his years-long stint with the Italian team.
Binotto joined the team in the engine department just before Schumacher had moved to Ferrari from Benetton. Speaking to motorsport, Binotto recalled his and Schumacher’s maiden win in the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.
“It is no longer enough to do your homework well – to win, you have to keep progressing and improving, and to do that we have to give 120% if not 130%,” said Binotto.
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