Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
After the sun had set on the 2021 Formula 1 season, Mattia Binotto – the figurehead and leader of the Scuderia – proudly proclaimed they had emerged from two difficult seasons with a bold new team culture built upon four pillars: innovation, viewing mistakes as opportunities, collective sense of responsibility and team spirit.
Ferrari may have arrived at their second home race of the year at Monza with all hopes of a world championship all but extinguished by the brutal speed and consistency of Max Verstappen and Red Bull, but everyone representing the Prancing Horse in the paddock this weekend – from mechanics and hospitality staff up to Binotto himself – knows this is nothing less than a must-win race on Sunday.
For 15 rounds in 2022, Ferrari have faced relentless scrutiny from all quarters. Every slip-up over every weekend provided easy fodder for content creators across the internet to mercilessly mock Maranello’s finest. Commentators openly chastising the team’s strategy calls every Sunday.
In Italy, so fiercely proud of Ferrari’s status as the most revered car brand on the planet, the frustration at their failures grew so strong that red stickers proclaiming ‘BinottOut’ were spotted on light poles, benches and other objects around the grounds of Monza.
But while the voices of pundits or a few disgruntled ticketholders can be easily dismissed, those of Ferrari’s chairman, John Elkann, are not. With the boss’s boss and the Italian President both in attendance at the circuit on Sunday, Ferrari headed to the Autodromo knowing no less than their very best would be accepted.
No wonder, then, that Charles Leclerc had been so thrilled to have secured pole position for the race on Saturday afternoon. It had been a near-inevitability, with Verstappen due to drop five places on the grid for a fourth power unit and Carlos Sainz Jnr, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez all set to be demoted to the back of the grid for similar technical offences. However, beating Verstappen on merit for the first time in four rounds gave Ferrari the best possible chance of victory on Sunday. What Leclerc now needed to do was to beat his fellow front row starter, George Russell in the sprint to the Rettifilo.
When the lights went out, the Mercedes’ getaway was just as good as the Ferrari’s. Russell’s front wheels were level with Leclerc’s rear wheels for just a second, before the Mercedes switched from the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…