Former Ferrari boss: 'Binotto had to learn a job that wasn't his'

Ferrari have missed the mark on a number of occasions this year, which has earned them criticism. Although there are clear calls for changes to be made to the pit wall, team principal Mattia Binotto is not interested. According to Cesare Fiorio, the team's former sporting director, this attitude may have something to do with the fact that Binotto 'had to learn a job that was not meant for him'.

Binotto joined Ferrari at the age of 26, after graduating as a mechanical engineer from the Lausanne Polytechnic School and obtaining a Masters in Automotive Engineering in Modena. He held the position of engine engineer for the test team until 2003 before joining the race team in 2004. There he became Operations Manager for the Engine and Cherry Department in 2009 and later Head of Power Unit, until becoming Technical Director of the team in 2016. In January 2019, he was appointed as Ferrari's new team boss, a position he stated in conversation with Sky Sports was never his big dream.

Fiorio describes Binotto as "an excellent technician who has had to learn a job that is not his own". "Now he must ensure that Ferrari regains the luster it had at the start of the season," the former sporting director told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Fiorio is convinced that Ferrari has the best car this year, but stresses that the link between the driver and the pit wall is 'fundamental'.