Nightmare for Ferrari: "We realised that we were not good enough"

During the winter tests, Ferrari were at the top of the timesheets. It looked like Mercedes finally had a season-long battle on their hands, but all was different when the green flag was waved in Australia. This, according to team boss Mattia Binotto was a painful realisation. 

“In the first week we were definitely the fastest, we were very strong. To be honest, we felt that we had a significant advantage over the competition," explains Binotto to Motorsport.com. “In the first week, we had the idea that we were more or less half a second faster than the rest. But in the second week, Mercedes came with a number of upgrades. If you look at the best lap times at that time, we drove the same times as Hamilton."

Despite the competition during the second week, the Italian's headed to Melbourne with some confidence. By the time the team boarded the plane for the journey home, that confidence had been zapped. 

“When we travelled to Australia, we still had a lot of confidence in how we would perform. We thought we could take part in the win. That was a cold shower for us and the team. At that time we realized that we were not good enough," Binotto added. 

Binotto remains proud 

Binotto, who was appointed his new role in January, remains proud of the teams' mentality through the season. Eventually, Ferrari made a bit of a bounceback after the summer break. 

“The team has the right mentality. We have not been able to close the gap completely, but I believe we have taken a positive approach in the second half of the season. It shows what this team is capable of," the Italian concludes hopefully.