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Ferrari will head into Formula 1’s winter break in a state of “some serenity” after finishing third in the constructors’ championship, according to team principal Mattia Binotto.
It has not mathematically secured the position given McLaren is 38.5 points behind heading into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But it would require McLaren winning in Abu Dhabi with both drivers on the podium to have any chance of overhauling Ferrari.
Binotto had set third in the constructors’ championship as the “minimum objective” for the season, but admitted there were times when he thought it might not be possible.
But with the position now all-but secured, taking third is a boost for the team heading into what will be a crucial off-season will benefit the team.
“It’s certainly great,” said Binotto when asked by The Race about having effectively wrapped up third place despite the position not being a mathematical certainty.
“After Belgium and Monza, and even Russia, it would have been difficult for us to imagine that we could have achieved it.
“The team has been continuously working well, staying focused and really consistent in all the races. They got all the points they could.
“The objective this year was trying to improve ourselves and all the details. By doing that in the last races, we scored the points which were necessary.
“It’s great to finish third because I think it’s really the best we could have done. We know that’s not the real objective for Ferrari, we know that the gap to our best competitor is very big, but I think we can be satisfied with the progress we made this season – and we are really looking to the next one.
“Finishing third gives us some serenity for the winter time, trying to work well on next year.”
Ferrari has outscored McLaren in each of the last five races, a run that started after McLaren’s unexpected one-two in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
This run coincides with the introduction of the new 800V battery system, double the previous voltage, that Charles Leclerc was given at Sochi and Carlos Sainz for the following race at Istanbul.
Ferrari’s consistency has also improved of late, taking nine double-points finishes in the last 10 races, interrupted only by Leclerc’s 15th place at Sochi – a race he started at the back thanks to a power unit penalty before gambling on staying out in the late-race rain and climbing as high as fifth before dropping back and making a late pitstop.
By contrast, McLaren has only managed three double-points finishes in the same run. Lando Norris has managed only five points in the last four races, which is largely down to a run of bad luck.
Most recently, he missed out on the ‘free’ tyre change under the red flag in Saudi Arabia having initially run sixth, then lost more positions when he was caught up behind Sergio Perez’s crash at the first standing restart.
He also lost a top-five finish in Qatar to a puncture, which Pirelli later attributed to cuts on the inside tyre wall of the front-left caused by crossing exit kerbs. This followed a puncture sustained when he hit Sainz at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix, a race where he could also have finished in the top six.
“It sucks because we deserved a lot more, we’ve done a much better job than shows,” said Norris of his recent misfortune.
“Of course, I made a couple of mistakes in there, I have to admit that – like in Brazil. But in Qatar and here [Saudi Arabia] we should have scored some good points. Both times we should have outscored Ferrari as a team and at least clawed some points back.
“Maybe it’s not going to change the end result, but we should be much closer than where we are.
“But just through circumstances, through the [red-flag tyre change] rule and the tyre blow-up [in Qatar], there’s nothing we can do no matter how hard or fast we are.”
McLaren had led Ferrari by 17.5 points after the Russian Grand Prix, which has swung to the 38.5 deficit in the subsequent six races.
