Binotto thinks that Leclerc should have finished fourth

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto believes that Charles Leclerc 'deserved' better than seventh place in the Formula 1 championship. He even believes that not Sergio Perez, but Leclerc should have finished fourth and thus ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

In conversation with Formule1.nl, Binotto states that his star driver missed out on at least 40 points due to bad luck. For example, he grabbed pole position in Monaco, but was unable to appear at the start due to technical problems. The Ferrari boss also cites the incident at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Leclerc was one of the victims. The same is true of Perez, however.

Binotto believes Leclerc should have been in Perez's place

Nevertheless, Binotto is convinced that the Monegasque could have achieved great results in those races. "Without those incidents he would have had at least forty more points and would have finished much higher in the championship," concludes the Italian. In the end, it was Ferrari debutant Carlos Sainz who got the most out of the races, exceeding many expectations.

Leclerc would have needed those 40 points to finish fourth in the standings as well, as the difference to Perez was 31 points. Teammate Sainz also finished higher in the final standings, albeit with a smaller difference: only 5.5 points separated the Ferrari drivers, who were split by McLaren driver Lando Norris.