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Mika Hakkinen was surprised with Ferrari's underperforming and under-delivery at the high-altitude Mexican GP venue. The former F1 world champion was surprised by the Maranello-based team’s inability to compete with Red Bull or Mercedes drivers.
Writing on his blog on Unibet, the former Finnish world champion said:
"Ferrari were really unable to compete with Red Bull or Mercedes this weekend, and again it was down to the thin air at that high altitude which meant they could not run their turbocharged engines at full power. It’s amazing to see how these aspects can influence performance so dramatically."
Surprised at the effect of the low air density on the Ferrari and its performance, Hakkinen was amazed at their loss of performance. The team are speculated to have turned down their engines at the high-altitude venue, but they also had several other problems during the race.
Hakkinen was surprised at the team's inability to challenge the Mercedes or Red Bull cars and felt the significant drop in their pace was dramatic. Charles Leclerc finished the race in P6 while his teammate Carlos Sainz finished P5.
Carlos Sainz defends Ferrari team boss Maria Binotto
Defending team principal Mattia Binotto, Carlos Sainz revealed that the Italian had kept the team united in pressured situations. The Spanish driver believes that the Italian team boss is level headed, calm, and does an exceptional job of running the team even during their difficult times.
Speaking to the BBC Network, Sainz said:
"Especially in a team like Ferrari, where there is so much pressure and so much attention on us, and everyone wants changes immediately as soon as something is wrong."
He continued:
"Mattia has done an excellent job at not losing the cool head at any point. We have had a lot of difficult moments, a lot of criticism, and he has remained stuck to his principles. We stayed united in the most difficult moments and it shows the progress of our culture."
Since Mattia Binotto was promoted to the role of team principal in 2019, Ferrari have had a slow progress curve. The Italian has been heavily criticized throughout the 2022 season for their lack of ability to deliver title-winning performances.
While his job remains safe, the 2023 season will be a litmus test for the team principal and his ability to lead the team to winning titles. The Maranello-based team have failed to win a drivers' championship since 2007 and a constructors' championship since 2008.
