F1 | Spanish GP | "Vettel is in line with his disappointment at not being part of Ferrari in 2021": Binotto

The controversy seems to have no end in today's 2020 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, the Team Principal of the Ferrari team, the Swiss Mattia Binotto, came up against some rumors and statements by Sebastian Vettel that point to a total rupture between the German and his race engineer, as well as with Mattia Binotto himself, the Scudería boss was surprised by the statements that Sebastian released to the same Italian media after the race, Vettel's words were clear enough, he did not leave the least room for doubt:

"My opinion is no longer important. Apart from everything, the car is what it is, we are trying to do our best, it is a difficult season for everyone"  said the German Scudería Ferrari driver, who incidentally makes it seem Very long ago those times where Vettel shouted "Forza Ferrari" on his radio. Today Vettel seems totally resigned to not being taken into account by his team, that team that until a few months ago was seen by the German as "his team".

The Scudería Ferrari obtained only seventh place from Sebastian Vettel in the Spanish GP, mainly thanks to a bold bet, a one-stop strategy (carried out on the fly), this gave Vettel the possibility to recover in the positions and endure until the end of the Grand Prix on a set of soft tires. Vettel came to roll in fifth place after the stops of his rivals managing to reach the finish line in seventh position. Binotto, after these statements by the German, went to the Sky Sport Italia microphones to give his version of the events that occurred today:

“Did Sebastian respond that his opinion is no longer important within the team? I think it is a statement dictated by his disappointment that he is no longer part of the team starting next season. When he says things like that, he means that he thinks advice for the future is no longer his. That said, we are working well with him, relations are good. His weekend was decent even though we can do much better. Today he had a good race and I am convinced that he can have an injection of confidence for the next races, face them with more enthusiasm”.

After this clarification he was asked if the versions that Ferrari has abandoned the development of the SF1000 were true, to which he replied:

"We continue to develop this car, we have never abandoned it. We continue to work on all fronts, also trying to develop next year's car. We will bring more developments this year. Not in the next races. We have brought an aerodynamic package and a development in England, we will bring a low-load package for Spa and Monza that we have prepared especially for those races and that we believe will be a good package, always considering our current problems. And then we will bring more developments that will also be useful for next year".

He also clarified that Ferrari have decided to speak openly about everything that happens this season within the team, to avoid "misunderstandings":

"I do not want to talk about misunderstandings between the drivers and the Pitwall. By our choice we prefer to speak openly. Others do not, perhaps not to reveal their intentions. We instead believe that it is the right way also to ask questions from both sides. In recent races, the choices made have proven to be correct, so discussion and question marks are welcome. For us they are open dialogues that lead us to make the right decision".

For everyone it is evident that the SF1000 suffers even more in qualifying than in the race, on Sundays it seems to be more competitive and fight in a better way against all teams except Red Bull and Mercedes, Mattia explained it this way:

"We complicated our lives in qualifying, where we did not find the right balance. We started far behind the potential of this car, even if it is not able to fight for victory. It is difficult to overtake here. We are convinced that our potential is greater than the one shown today. Without Charles's reliability problem, we could have finished fourth. Vettel started further back, we made a unique strategy that led him to seventh. In this phase of the championship, as we are, we must take advantage of what we have. If not We do it, we complicate our lives. So the car has to be reliable and today it wasn't. We had problems with the electronic control unit that suddenly turned off Charles's car. We still don't know why, we will investigate to find the reason".

This season is proving a real test for the Italian team, given the lack of results and the crossfire between Vettel and Binotto, there is now talk that the German prefers not to speak to his race engineer more than strictly necessary, all this continues to develop race after race among other versions that Sebastian could even be replaced by the German Nico Hulkenberg for the rest of the 2020 season due to the severe tensions between both parties in the latest competitions. At Ferrari there is anything but peace at these critical times of the year.

The written press present in Barcelona also asked Binotto (before leaving the circuit) if he thought that Vettel has hardened his criticism of the team and the treatment he has been given, and he replied:

"I have not realized what you are mentioning. At least on our side, we have not changed or used a different type of tone or something, so I am quite surprised by what you mention. It is not the case".Also clarifying that they have not stopped doing the usual on the radio with German either ... "It is not necessary to talk on the radio all the time. Nothing has changed". 

Hasta luego Barcelona 👋#Seb5 #Charles16 #SF1000 #essereFerrari 🔴 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/zwQLUgYkI0

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 16, 2020