Ferrari chief reveals specific ‘concern’ about Red Bull’s current form

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc still lead in both standings but Red Bull are increasing the pressure after two wins in a row

Mattia Binotto and Charles Leclerc are ready for a ‘long championship’ fight (Getty Images)

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has admitted he is concerned by Red Bull’s development in recent races as Max Verstappen claimed a second consecutive win at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday to cut Charles Leclerc’s lead at the top of the standings.

Verstappen held on to secure a third win of the season in Miami after passing both Leclerc and his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, as Binotto said he was left to hope his rivals stopped developments on their car “soon” with Red Bull threatening to pull away.

Ferrari have made a bright start to the season and initially made the better start to the campaign after getting ahead of the new racing regulations, with Leclerc claiming wins in Bahrain and Australia, but their lead in the constructors’ standings is now down to nine points.

At the Miami Grand Prix, Binotto expressed a suspicion that Red Bull have developed heavily since the opening race, an idea that he said also gave him “hope” as it would leave Red Bull will less room in their budget for later in the season. Formula One teams have a budget cap of £114 million for the 2022 season.

“If there is a concern it is how much they are developing, considering the budget cap,” Binotto told reporters. “But as well as a concern it is maybe a hope because at some stage they will need to stop, otherwise I will not understand how they will do that. We do not have the money to develop every race.”

Leclerc said he is ready for a “long championship” fight after seeing his lead reduced to 19 points. “It seems that [Red Bull] had the upper hand for two weekends now, in race pace especially, and we need to take back the advantage as soon as possible,” he said.

“I’m disappointed. think we are very strong in terms of tyre warm-up so at the beginning of every race we are strong and also after the Safety Car restart on the hard we were very strong but after four, five laps they seemed to stabilise the tyres in a better window.

“There they are just quicker than us so it’s very difficult to do anything. It’s like this. We need to work on that. It’s pretty clear what’s going on and hopefully we will get better at it as quickly as possible.”