“I think often we have been disadvantaged by decisions” : Mattia Binotto calls for the need of more experienced FIA race directors
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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto
Ferrari, according to the Maranello-based racing team’s boss Mattia Binotto, has been “disadvantaged by decisions” made by race directors, and the “guys need some more experience.” Following Michael Masi’s dismissal during the off-season following the dramatic end to the 2021 season of Formula One in Abu Dhabi, the choice was reached to have two race stewards instead of one for the 2022 season, in the form of Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.
However, this has sparked controversy because different individuals will decipher the rules differently, potentially favouring some teams over others. This was brought up to Ferrari boss Binotto, who admitted that his team had been treated unfairly but did “understand the difficulty.”
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“Certainly not an easy job. I think when you are there and you need to sit and decide, it’s not an easy one. These guys need some more experience, it’s not something which you learn from the very first race. If I look at the start of the season, certainly as Ferrari we cannot be happy with that. I think often we have been disadvantaged by decisions, but that’s the way it is. We understand the difficulty,” said Binotto on being asked if there’s a need for a third race director.
“I think the more races will pass, the more experience they will get” : Mattia Binotto
“I think in order to make them improve, we need to help them as well. I think it has to be a collaborative, let me say, collaboration between the teams and the race directors, to make sure they understand, they improve as fast as possible. Because no doubt that so far in the season, sometimes there was no consistency in decisions, I think we cannot deny that. As we cannot deny it’s not an easy job. So, it will take some time. We just need to hasten it as much as possible,” added Binotto.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff sat next to Binotto and concurred that they needed more expertise and that race directors, like teams, would make errors. The Austrian team boss also highlighted how stewarding in particularly a challenging race like Monaco can be difficult for any individual.
“I think the more races will pass, the more experience they will get, the more they will cope also with the pressure that Formula 1 brings with it. But they are part of Formula 1, as are the teams, as the teams make mistakes, and sometimes you really blame, because a wheels not on the car, or you get the strategy wrong, so, in the same way the race director is in the firing line. I think [it’s] the same for everyone,” concluded the team principal.
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Rishika Saha
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