Michael Schuhmacher’s documentary ‘Schumacher’ on Netflix gave the audience a behind-the-scenes look into his life. It also showed some exclusive clips on his career and the man behind the helmet. The documentary also showed that during the invincibility of the Prancing Horses, now-team principal Mattia Binotto played a key role in their engine superiority.
In his documentary, we saw Michael introduce a very young-looking Binotto to the world. The latter has been with Ferrari since 1995, when he joined the engine department of the team.
WATCH STORY: Insane Michael Schumacher Records That Lewis Hamilton Hasn’t Broken Yet
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Michael Schumacher introduces a young Mattia Binotto
During the period of Ferrari’s dominance, Binotto was the head of the engine department. Schumacher described him as the third most important person in the team after Jean Todt and Ross Brawn.
“So, now we have the third important guy. It’s the piece between the rear wing and the driver is the engine, and it’s Mr. Binotto. I like to introduce him to you.
“He is the engineer and now sort of the head of the group of the engine, Mr. Binotto, and maybe you explain a bit on what you do in the car at the race weekend,” said Michael while introducing Mattia.
Explaining his role in the functioning of the team, Binotto said, “During the race weekend, I was working on the reliability and ensuring that the engine worked properly on Michael’s car. In order to get absolute reliability and the best performance from the engine it is important that we talk to Michael to get his feedback in order to achieve this.”
“Exactly, thank you. See you at the meeting,” concluded Schumacher.
Charles is a lot younger than Michael at the time: Ferrari team boss
While Schumi isn’t a Ferrari driver anymore, his legacy still lives on at the team. In fact, Binotto mentioned that Charles Leclerc reminds him of Michael.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
“Charles is a lot younger than Michael at the time. He needs to develop as a leader of the team… because the success of Ferrari tomorrow will be dependent as well on the way he will behave as a leader himself.
“But I think that while Michael was already a leader, Charles is developing as a leader. But he is developing well,” said Mattia.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
It is good to see that Binotto is still involved in the team as he was with Schumacher.
Does Charles remind you of Schumi? Let us know.