Ferrari Joins the Sandbagging Bandwagon as Binotto Dismisses F1-75 Race-Winning Potential

The Ferrari boss doesn’t think that they are ready to win the season opener even after their impressive run at the recently concluded Bahrain pre-season testing.

Many F1 teams, including Mercedes and Red Bull also see the Italian F1 giants as the top candidate to win the Bahrain GP. “I really don’t know. I think Ferrari, from what I can see, today Ferrari would probably be getting a 1-2 or maybe Red Bull,” Lewis Hamilton shared.

Even the Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, has gone on to say, “For me, car that looks most settled on the circuit is the Ferrari.” However, the team principal Mattia Binotto doesn’t agree with these claims; he still thinks that their 2022 challenger F1-75 still needs a lot of work to win races.

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As reported by Autosport, The Ferrari boss has said, “I’m not myself capable of judging the others. But we should be very good to judge ourselves and I don’t think we will be [the] winner.”

Ferrari boss favors Red Bull and Mercedes for the win

Even after the phenomenal performance at the pre-season testings, the Italian side isn’t confident in winning the first race. The Italian instead favors rivals Mercedes and Red Bull to win the first race. He believes the upgraded RB18 is better, and the Silver Arrows will also come with upgrades for W13 in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“I think both Red Bull and Mercedes have very strong and fast cars, and those teams are very strong as well,” Mattia expressed. “I can see that even on the last day [of the test] Red Bull have brought upgrades to their car, proving and showing how good they are in the development, which is critical from now to the first race.”

“Maybe Mercedes as well will improve further. So they are very strong, very fast and I hope that we can be outsiders,” Binotto shares his opinion on rivals Mercedes. “I hope that we can somehow try to challenge them. That would be great from our side.”

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The season opener is only a few days away. So, all F1 teams are back at their bases, improving their 2022 challengers. Now, it would be fascinating to see what upgrades the Maranello-based team will bring to the first race. Therefore, fans should keep their eyes on the legendary Reds this season as they might have the chance to return to their glory.