2022 looked like the year for Ferrari. A 1-2 in the season opener in Bahrain overjoyed the Tifosi, and it looked like the Italian overlord of Formula 1 would be taking home their first title since Kimi Raikonnen in 2007.
However, costly strategy errors such as Hungary, or driver errors such as France (where Charles binned while comfortably leading), meant that Max Verstappen was incredibly dominant once the car became more reliable.
Many of these strategy blunders were blamed on Ferrari's TP, Mattia Binotto, however he and his team never seemed to be able to accept that they made a mistake, such as their comments after the Silverstone strategic disaster (although as a Carlos fan, I rather enjoyed it!).
Rumours were circling before the last race in Abu Dhabi that Mattia's job was looking uncertain, although Ferarri assured fans that these had no base and Mattia would be TP going forward, quoted from their official social media channels that these claims were "totally without foundation."
However, despite all of these (false) promises, Binotto resigned as TP from Ferrari today. As an engineer of 28 years for the red team, it is a shame to have left the team in this manner; many were surprised he didn't just step down to a senior engineering role like he was before 2019; after all, this is the most competitive Ferrari car we have had for years.
Fredric Vasseur is the rumoured replacement, the TP of Sauber Alfa Romeo, who under his control has flourished, especially at the start of this year, scoring their best championship finishing placing for a long time - 6th.
Up to four teams are supposedly interested in Mattia's services, most notably Aston Martin and Alpine. His engineering skills would be of great help to them, especially AM who has struggled this season, coming home 7th overall in the championship.
Comments