“That maybe has been the most difficult task I’ve done myself through my career,” Mattia Binotto opens up on informing Sebastian Vettel that his contract wasn’t being renewed
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Mattia Binotto (L) and Sebastian Vettel (R)
Two eras at Ferrari have ended separated by two years. After the 2020 season – Sebastian Vettel found himself out of a contract at Ferrari, having ‘failed’ to win a championship and dominate like his idol Michael Schumacher. At the end of 2022, Mattia Binotto will leave the company he has worked for all his career – 28 years, having ‘failed’ to bring the trophy back to Maranello.
The Italian handed in his resignation soon after the end of the season, despite both him and Ferrari asserting that the rumours of his potential sacking, that had emerged earlier, were ‘unfounded’. When the team had decided not to renew Vettel past 2020, Binotto had been the one to break the news to him – something he called the ‘most difficult’ task of his career.
As per Formula1.com, the soon-to-be former Ferrari team principal said: “First, Sebastian is a great, great driver, and I don’t think it’s myself telling it, it’s really what he has achieved – fantastic, outstanding, amazing. As Ferrari, we have been lucky to have him as part of the team and it has been six important years. He brought a lot as a driver, but more than that, I think he brought a lot as a person, and each single Ferrari fan still loves Sebastian.”
He added that such things are especially difficult when you ‘love’ a person: “[It was] difficult for myself, coming to the end, somehow to announce to him that we will not renew. That maybe has been the most difficult task I’ve done myself through my career. When you love such a person and you really enjoy working with him, it’s always difficult to come to the end.”
Mattia Binotto acknowledges the Sebastian Vettel-Ferrari ‘failure’
As he joined Ferrari to win the championship, Sebastian Vettel felt that he ‘failed’ at Ferrari. Indeed, he did not achieve his goal, but while Mattia Binotto acknowledges the German’s ‘failure’, he added that the team failed as well. 2017 and 2018 were undoubtedly their best shot at the title, but it just got away from them and Vettel very quickly – something their 2022 season has in common with those two years.
Binotto said: “I think he is somehow right, because when he joined Ferrari, he was ambitious, his objective was to win the title with Ferrari, and I think together with himself, it was our dream and our objective as well. It has been a failure for him, but it has been a failure all together as a team. He has been very close, or the closest he has been was ‘17 and ’18, so we had a few opportunities.”
Back then, Ferrari’s primary objective (as is almost always the case) was to win the title – something they did not achieve, and as such, Binotto agreed that they (and Vettel) failed. This will also be their objective next season – now with Frederic Vasseur at the helm. The Tifosi have been longing for the title – the team hasn’t won any since 2008. If they don’t deliver in 2023, the pressure will continue to mount.
Also Read: Charles Leclerc reveals Mattia Binotto gesture before resigning as Ferrari team principal
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