Binotto: 'Today only Red Bull is performing at a consistently higher level'

Ferrari have made many big strides compared to last year when it comes to pit stops. But team boss Mattia Binotto believes it needs to be even faster and close the gap on Red Bull Racing.

Binotto set a very simple goal for the team at the start of 2021: "Improve in all respects", he is quoted by SpeedWeek.com. In terms of results, things are going well, with more points gained in the first eleven races of 2021 compared to 2020. They currently share the third spot among the constructors with McLaren.

Three seconds is the norm

Another area where Binotto would like to see improvement is the pit stops. "I speak of a good stop when we get a time under three seconds. That may not sound exciting now, but I'd rather have consistently solid stops than ultra-fast tire changes and then another very bad stop that takes maybe six seconds."

The Italian team boss says 84% of all pit stops made in 2021 will be under three seconds. "In the 2020 season, we only managed that in half of the stops," Binotto revealed. The team has made a lot of progress with that.

Only Red Bull to beat

But Binotto wants more improvement and hopes Ferrari will become the fastest team in the pit lane. "If we look at all the stops, a year ago we were only eighth out of ten teams. Today only Red Bull Racing is performing at a consistently higher level," he concludes. Ferrari's fastest pit stop of 2021 is the 2.24-second stop of Charles Leclerc in Spain.