Mattia Binotto defends Ferrari: "It's not only down to us" to make mistakes, Mercedes making them too

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto pointed fingers at Mercedes, claiming that his team isn't the only one making mistakes. The Scuderia has been under considerable scrutiny for their poor strategic choices in 2022, causing them to lose significant points in both championships.

Mercedes seemed to be able to challenge Red Bull in Mexico, looking good to get their first win of the season. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton found themselves behind Max Verstappen at the end of qualifying and were optimistic about catching the Dutchman throughout Sunday's race.

When the Silver Arrows put both their drivers on the excruciatingly slow hard compound tire, however, it was suddenly evident that they wouldn't have the pace to catch the two-time world champion a few seconds down the road. Binotto hit back at Mercedes, pointing out that it isn't just Ferrari that has made mistakes against Red Bull in 2022.

Mattia Binotto told the media:

“In Hungary, we have been criticised and it’s normally when we are doing things which are not completely right. Mercedes maybe have lost the last race as well, by not choosing the right tyres in Austin. So, it’s not only down to us somehow to make different choices or making mistakes.”

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Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari is moving in the right direction in fight against Red Bull

Despite a woeful second half of the year for him, Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari are moving in the right direction when it comes to their fight with Red Bull. The 25-year-old claims his team is yet to figure out the formula for beating the Austrian team - namely Max Verstappen - but is on the right track to do so.

Ferrari's main gap to Red Bull shows itself on Sundays, with the Italian team often struggling with high tire degradation and reliability issues. To make matters worse for the team, their strategic choices have caused them to concede numerous points to Verstappen and the squad.

Speaking ahead of the 2022 F1 Mexican GP, Charles Leclerc said of Ferrari:

“Yeah, I was mostly speaking about the Sunday execution not the performance in itself. But as I’ve been mentioning since a few races, we are working a lot on the strategy, also on the communication side of it. And this I felt like we are taking a step in the right direction but of course there is still the gap of performance on the Sunday to the Red Bull that we still need to find and improve. So on that we are working, we haven’t found yet the solution but we are working well. And again, once we are focusing on one thing, we normally improve very quickly on it. So I’m confident that the results will come soon.”

With only two races to go in 2022, the Italian team must now set its eyes on the 2023 season and hope to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull. With Mercedes now right in the mix, however, it will be interesting to see which of the three teams comes out on top.