The 2022 season has been dominated so far by Ferrari’s leading performance amid the new era of racing.
Team principal Mattia Binotto says they have big upgrades coming later in the season to ensure they maintain their position out front.
An aggressive competition will likely kick off over the coming weeks as the prancing horses’ on-track rivals try their damndest to close the gap and fight for the title.
Speaking about their incredible start to the season – after a difficult 2021 – Binotto said: “I’m certainly surprised.”
He said they knew they had strong machinery on arrival at winter testing but that the difference between them and their closest rivals is actually quite small by their measurements.
“I think we worked hard and put a lot of priority on 2022.
“I knew the team was a great team and we improved ourselves compared to the past seasons, and I was hoping to have a competitive car by the start of the season.
“Then, coming to winter testing, we knew we had a competitive car but certainly I was not expecting such a good car to start the season; it would be unfair to think that. But I still believe the difference between us and our competitors can be very little, as we’ve seen over the past weeks, and we should have great fights in the next races.”
He ruled out any major upgrades for the upcoming trip to Italy for round four but said they will be looking to alleviate the violent porpoising they’ve been experiencing at times.
“It will be a difficult weekend in terms of bringing upgrades and running them in the Friday practice because you need to focus your set-up on the quali in the afternoon,” he explained.
“If we look at ourselves, there will not be [many upgrades] in Imola because it will not be the right place. We’ve tried to mitigate, shall I say, the issue we’ve got still so far – the porpoising and the bouncing – that has affected our performance over the weekend, so we try to work on that specific point.
“But with the upgrades, the more significant ones will be later on in the season.”
Racing will resume on April 22 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, where the first sprint of the season will take place.
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