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Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto believes the budget caps have regulated teams' ability to bring in upgrades every weekend. The Italian team principal revealed that the unique regulations allowed them to experiment with their concept and be regulative with the upgrades they bring.
Speaking at the team principal's press conference ahead of the 2022 Imola GP, Binotto said:
“We are only at race four and if I look at the past seasons as well, I don’t think that at race four there were much developments brought to cars. If I look at our competitors at least, they already brought some developments. Some of them in testing. Some of them even here in Imola and some maybe small developments from race one to race four so I don’t I don’t think that so far it has changed much compared to the past. On top of that the budget cap certainly, we need to pay attention to it. And we cannot simply drop developments at each single race.”
According to the Ferrari team chief, they do not believe in developing their car at the moment by bringing significant upgrades every weekend. In contrast to their rivals, the Italian revealed that in the first four races they have brought small upgrades and not any significant ones. Binotto suggested that the budget cap helped them regulate and strategize their upgrades to the car. It was also reported that the team was to bring a new floor to the Imola race, which has been delayed due to tricky weather at the circuit.
Ferrari believes the new regulations allowed it to be innovative in its car concept
Mattia Binotto believes the new regulations allow them to be experimental with their car concepts, which is why all the teams have ended up with uniquely different cars. The Ferrari chief, however, believes that opting for the correct concept has allowed them to be strategic with their upgrades and ensured they bring in significant upgrades only if the need arises.
Explaining the reasons for not bringing any major upgrades to the Imola GP, Binotto said:
“I think there is the fact that the regulations the way it is. It’s somehow prescribed. And we always said it’s quite a prescriptive regulation. So I think there is quite a lot of freedom in choosing the overall concept or architecture. And that’s the reason why we can see quite different cars. But by the time that you have chosen it, how much you can chase on the front wing, on the rear wing, on the bodywork, it’s very little so. So I think that as teams because we’ve got a budget cap in place we are simply trying to make sure that by the time we are bringing a package, it’s a proper one. And maybe to do that it simply takes a bit more races.”
Ferrari revealed after the Australian GP that it was holding back its upgrades for Imola, focusing instead on containing the car's porpoising. At that point, the Prancing Horse outfit felt it would bring its more significant upgrades later in the season.
