Removing Mattia Binotto 'isn’t the answer' for Ferrari's woes, says former F1 driver

Former F1 driver-turned-TV pundit Karun Chandhok believes simply removing Mattia Binotto will not cure Ferrari's woes in 2023. The Indian driver believes the Italian team needs wider re-structuring to ensure it runs smoothly.

Rumors of Mattia Binotto's potential sacking have been making their rounds in the F1 world. The Maranello-based team, however, came out with a statement saying that any speculation about the Italian team boss's sacking is totally unfounded and lacks a strong base. Many have blamed Binotto for Ferrari's loss to Red Bull in 2022, where the Ferrari seemed to have the faster car on certain circuits.

Chandhok wonders if Binotto should be shuffled sideways in the Italian team's hierarchy and moved to a more technical role instead. The former driver tweeted about the rumors, saying:

“Will be a shame to see Mattia Binotto go. Always found him to be interesting & willing to chat. He tried to create a no-fear, no-blame culture & as a part of that, he didn’t make the changes he should have. Changing just the TP [team principal] isn’t the answer – they need wider re-structuring. I wonder if Mattia needs to be shuffled sideways into a technical leadership role – let’s not forget they have designed and produced a very fast car this year. Creating a better operational and development team in parallel with the concept and design is key.”

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Ferrari boss thinks having a fast car will 'compensate' for strategic mistakes

Mattia Binotto thinks his team can compensate for their notoriously poor strategy by building an extremely fast car. The team came under fire in 2022 after it made a string of strategic blunders, costing them significant points in both championships.

Binotto also feels reliability remains a priority since that was another reason why the team lost an immense amount of points in multiple races. When talking about the pace of the car, he also stated that the team suffered during the races as their qualifying pace was fine, but it was hard to battle during the races. He told as.com:

"First, reliability will be the priority, because to win, you need to be reliable, and we haven't been this year. After that, the pace of the car. We have been very competitive in qualifying, but our race pace was not enough to win. If you have a fast car and reliable car, you can make mistakes with strategy and pitstops but then still compensate with the car."

Ferrari were the 2022 favorites earlier on in the season when Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were considerably faster than the rest of the field. The team, however, soon suffered poor reliability over the course of the season, losing out to Red Bull and Max Verstappen by a huge margin by the end of the year.

Only time will tell whether Mattia Binotto's plans to develop a fast enough car can solve Ferrari's blatant management issues in 2023.