Opinion: why Mattia Binotto's reasoning on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari line-up is wrong
Today at 09:23 AM
Mattia Binotto, after his time with Scuderia Ferrari, is back in the spotlight thanks to the new Audi Formula 1 project. There are individuals who, beyond their professional success, have the ability to divide public opinion regarding their performance. One of these is certainly the former team principal of Scuderia Ferrari. The engineer from Lausanne, during his tenure at the helm of the Italian team’s sports management, had to deal not only with a period of poor technical competitiveness but also with unprecedented political issues. We refer in particular to the well-known “settlement agreement” with the International Federation.
This story concerned the Prancing Horse’s engine, which, although the truth never fully emerged, undoubtedly did not comply with the current regulatory framework. Despite all the FIA inspections during the 2019 Formula 1 season not revealing any irregularities, Ferrari had to modify its power unit, throwing away the following two seasons. Not to mention the technical directive TD039, which was designed to control the porpoising phenomenon and as a result introduced stricter checks on the car’s floor.
The F1-75 single-seater cleverly exploited the gray areas of the regulations regarding floor flexibility, optimizing the performance of the Italian car’s floor. Even before the technical directive took effect, the Maranello team froze the development of one of the best Ferrari cars developed by the Maranello engineers in recent years. The decline during the 2022 Formula 1 season, combined with the disagreements with Charles Leclerc, which became all too evident during the season, marked the end of Mattia Binotto’s long tenure at Ferrari just under two years ago.
The departure of the Italian-Swiss manager in December 2022 was seen as the logical consequence of a cycle that had suffered too few highs and too many lows. From the 2019 season to 2022, Mattia Binotto centralized both the role of Team Principal and Technical Director under his responsibility, presuming he could handle both roles without too much trouble. A highly questionable decision, in the end. Many believed that once his experience with Ferrari ended, the Italian engineer would be unlikely to return to the most important motorsport series in a similar role.
Yet the Germans entrusted the former Ferrari team principal with the keys to the Audi F1 program as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer, in order to serve as the necessary link with the parent automotive company. A heavy yet stimulating role for a manager who, as head of Ferrari’s racing division, in the top category achieved the meager haul of seven race victories in four years of management. To put it into perspective, without possessing his colleague’s technical background, Maurizio Arrivabene won twice as many races over the same four-year period.
One thing is certain, the new head of the Audi program has extensive experience in Formula 1, gained over several years within the sport. Mattia Binotto certainly experienced the shocking transition from internal combustion engines to turbo-hybrid power units when he was the technical head of the Prancing Horse’s engine department. For this reason, the Italian manager personally suffered the difficulties of having to close a significant gap with the competition, particularly Mercedes, which had started well in advance and therefore had the advantage with the new generation of power units.
Recently, the engineer, born in 1969, appeared in the Sauber team’s garage in his new uniform, even though this is currently a transition phase towards Audi's real debut, which will take place during the 2026 Formula 1 racing season. In one of the various interviews the former Ferrari man has given, the Audi boss was asked about Ferrari’s choices regarding drivers and its line up for the 2025 campaign, a topic he did not shy away from, offering his straightforward view without too much hesitation. In a very candid manner, Mattia Binotto admitted that he would never have hired Lewis Hamilton.
This, despite the fact that he personally agrees with the choice made by the seven-time Formula 1 world champion. The reason is as simple as it is sharp. Ferrari had already focused on other drivers. And if the talent is Charles Leclerc, it's him who the former Ferrari team boss believes should have been guided towards the objective. In short, paraphrasing Mattia Binotto’s recent comments, if the phenomenon you need to win is already in your team, all that was left was to create the right technical conditions to lead him to success. Unconditional support to ensure the driver you chose feels at his best.
The former Ferrari team principal's statement lends itself to a not-so-cryptic hidden thought: if Ferrari hired one of the living legends of this Formula 1, then is the team really certain that the Monegasque driver is the right talent to entrust with the future of Ferrari's sporting success? The question is valid, despite the fact that within the reasoning to answer this question, many factors may be at play. Our modest opinion is quite clear on this matter and can be traced back to Mattia Binotto’s past at Maranello. We are referring to his modus operandi used in certain scenarios.
On some occasions, Mattia Binotto, from his high-ranking position, chose to put the Maranello team before the driver, sometimes doing so in a truly unpleasant and very disrespectful way. We will recall, for example, the cold phone call to Sebastian Vettel to dismiss and fire a four-time Formula 1 world champion with a season still to go. Not to mention the famous “waving finger” at Charles Leclerc at the end of the 2022 British Grand Prix in Silverstone, a tangible demonstration of what has been said after a race in which the Monegasque driver clearly lost the race victory due to a strategy decision that let him on track with old hard tires in the final stages of the race, while everyone else, including his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, were called in for a new set of soft tires.
It seems that Mattia Binotto is starting to get the first pebble out of his shoe in what may be a long series.
— see video above —
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