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Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has said that the team stopped developing their 2022 F1 challenger and has shifted their focus to the next season.
Talking to Motorsport Italy, Binotto said that one of the reasons behind Ferrari's drop in performance compared to Mercedes has been the shift in focus of the Italian team to the 2023 season. He said:
"In Mexico, we have had difficulties that here, at least until now, we have not had. We also had power unit problems that we know we don't have here. Today's Sprint Race was an appetizer of what we will see tomorrow. Tire degradation will be an important element as well as strategy. There will certainly be more than one stop. I believe that tomorrow we will see some good battles".
Binotto also added that the strong speed from Mercedes should not be a surprise considering how well the car had performed in the last two races. He said:
"We saw a very strong Mercedes both on pace and in degradation. We have been focusing on next year's car for some time; we stopped development of the 2022 car very early while they continued to bring developments in the United States and Mexico as well. For this reason, it is not surprising that they have improved and that they are fast. However, this makes it clear that next year will not be a battle between two teams".
Binotto also talked about how Ferrari abandoning the development of this year's car and Mercedes catching up has impacted Charles Leclerc's battle to finish P2.
However, the Ferrari boss added that the team will do everything possible to give Leclerc the opportunity to fight for P2 in the last two races. He said ahead of the Brazilian GP tonight (November 13):
"I am very surprised that at Red Bull, they have not swapped positions. It seemed to me a very simple and trivial thing to do, but which they did not do. Maybe they too sometimes have difficulty in making themselves heard by the drivers."
He continued:
"The battle for second place is important, both for the manufacturers and for the drivers. Given the season that Charles has done, for how he started, finishing second would be a good goal and we care too. We will do everything possible to put him in the best conditions to try to succeed."
Leclerc (275) trails Red Bull's Sergio Perez by five points in the driver championship.
Red Bull wanted an extra soft set of tyres for Sunday - Ferrari
Red Bull struggled during the sprint race in Brazil, with Max Verstappen falling down the order.
According to the Ferrari boss, Verstappen went for a medium tyre, as the team wanted an extra set of soft tyres for Sunday. He said:
"I think Max got into the yellow today to have an extra new soft train tomorrow. This morning, we saw in FP2 that the reds performed better than the middle ones; we had noticed it with Charles. Let's see tomorrow how they will behave and who will be able to exploit them more. The behavior of the averages will be an important element and can make a difference."
It will be interesting to see how the chips fall on Sunday and where Red Bull and Ferrari sort themselves out.
