"They are even protagonists"- Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both actively involved in Ferrari's team meetings, says Mattia Binotto

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto recently explained that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are actively involved in team meetings to ensure that the team is able to develop and improve holistically. Scuderia have been heavily criticized for depending on the drivers too much when it comes to race strategy during Grand Prix weekends. Ferrari defended this by emphasizing that this is a way of ensuring that all members of the team are involved to make sure the right decisions are made.

In the press conference ahead of the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, the Ferrari boss said:

“As far as the drivers are part of the project, as they are no external people, simply being there participating but not being involved, they are involved in all our process of improvement, they are involved in our discussions, they are involved in our review post-races and they are involved real time during the race weekend, whatever we are doing so on the strategies, they are involved in the race, in the discussions that we got on the Sunday morning, and as well during the race itself.”

“So I think being so involved, they are part of it and they are even protagonists so it's not a matter of giving them assurances, it’s a matter of keeping them involved, making sure that the team is capable of improving, giving them the full support to do so and keep the confidence in what we are doing because once again, as I said, if I look at where we were, where we are today, the team has done a lot of progresses and no reason they cannot do even more in the future.”

Ferrari "disappointed" by the Safety Car ending at the 2022 Italian GP

However, the gap between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen seemed too big to cover in a few laps towards the end of the Italian GP last weekend. Ferrari was unhappy with the fact that the FIA refused to resume the race after the safety car was brought out by Daniel Ricciardo.

In a post-race media interaction, the Italian said:

“I don't think it's a matter of changing the rules. The rules have been discussed, largely, especially after Abu Dhabi last year. They were discussed with the FIA, F1 and the teams, and we came to a conclusion that the current format is probably the right one to keep. So I don't think it's a matter of regulations today."

“I don't think safety could be the right reason for it [the delay]. When you are released, as a driver, you cannot go simply flat out around the track, because there is a minimum lap time, which is set in the regulations. And this minimum lap time is there to make sure that whenever they are running and driving, they're doing it safely."

A mere 35 points separate Ferrari and Mercedes in the constructors' standings, with the Silver Arrows quickly closing the gap to secure second in the championship.