According to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc team boss Mattia Binotto can be “tough” when needed. Binotto has faced a lot of criticism after he stepped up from being technical boss to the team principal. Some wondered whether he was the right man to manage Ferrari’s increasingly tetchy driver lineup.
“He’s a calm person, which is important in an environment like Formula 1,” Leclerc told Speed Week.
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“But he can be tough too if he needs to be. I think that’s all you need when you’re the boss.”
The 22-year old admitted that Binotto is particularly strict when dealing with moments of tension between himself and teammate Sebastian Vettel.
In the last 3-4 races, the role of number 1 driver has been yo-yoing between Vettel and Leclerc. A number of people, including the media believe that Charles Leclerc is challenging Sebastian Vettel’s status as number 1 this year.
Speaking about the driver tension, Leclerc answered: “We do not like to see that, the whole team does not like it, and you don’t need it in a team. So he has to be tough at those moments.”
Charles Leclerc also divulged that Binotto can temper that toughness when one of them chastises themselves for making a mistake.
“He knows I’m very hard on myself, so he adjusts to that when maybe he could have been tougher. He wants to be tougher but he sees that I messed up and that only thing he tries to do is build me back up,” he said.
This weekend, the F1 paddock heads to Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Ferrari plans to delay Lewis Hamilton’s title celebrations as long as possible. Sadly for the Maranello outfit, Mercedes have already wrapped up the constructor’s title. So, now the focus will soon shift to the 2020 season where Ferrari will aim to keep up their momentum.
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Mattia Binotto
