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Ferrari's Mattia Binotto denies that the new Technical Directive imposed by the FIA has anything to do with his team's poor performance at the 2022 F1 Belgian GP. The new TD relates to the FIA's metric for the number of vertical oscillations possible with the new floor designs in 2022.
Many expected Red Bull and Ferrari to be negatively affected by the new TD, helping other teams such as Mercedes to bridge the gap to the front for the remainder of the season. The Italian and Austrian teams have been relatively well-matched throughout the season but Red Bull have made fewer errors and have surpassed the Scuderia thanks to their brilliant strategic calls. At Spa, however, the Prancing Horse was not even close to Red Bull when it came to sheer pace.
Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Mattia Binotto claimed his team's loss to Red Bull at Spa had nothing to do with the new TD that was imposed over the summer break. He said:
“The effects of the technical directive are completely negligible as far as Ferrari is concerned. That is not the answer to the question why our performance was so bad.”
It is still unclear why Red Bull had the advantage they had over the Scuderia at Spa.
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc left scratching their heads over Red Bull's pace at Spa
Charles Leclerc admitted that he and his team have been left perplexed by Red Bull's unreal pace in the 2022 F1 Belgian GP. Red Bull dominated the power-hungry Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps all weekend. Even a slew of grid penalties was not enough to deny Max Verstappen his ninth win of the season.
Verstappen started the race from P14 but ended up winning with a gap of more than 17 seconds to his teammate Sergio Perez in second place. To make matters worse for Ferrari, the Dutchman even bagged the fastest lap of the season, scoring yet another point over Leclerc.
Speaking to the media after the race, Charles Leclerc admitted that the obvious pace advantage Red Bull enjoyed throughout the weekend has left Ferrari a bit worried. The Monegasque driver said:
“If you look at Red Bull, they were on another level, and they found something this weekend that is a bit worrying for us. For now, we don’t exactly understand [it]. They are still extremely quick in the straights, it looks like they have no downforce, but then they get into the corner and they are as quick as us, or quicker. So it’s a bit worrying.”
While the track for the 2022 F1 Dutch GP is likely to favor the Prancing Horses more than Red Bull, the Italian team's points deficit in both championships puts them on the back foot for the remainder of the season.
