Why Ferrari’s biggest Red Bull concern isn't about pace

The world champion became the first driver to win consecutive races this season after overtaking and then fending off his main title rival Charles Leclerc for victory at F1’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix. 

Verstappen has won all the races he has finished in 2022 and has outscored Leclerc by 27 points over the last two grands prix to cut the Monegasque’s championship advantage down to 19 points, while Ferrari sits just six points clear of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. 

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Asked if Ferrari are concerned about the recent speed shown by Red Bull after suffering consecutive defeats, Binotto replied: “I would say not [concerned] because I don’t think that the difference is huge. 

“It’s a matter of, maximum, a couple of tenths in the race and we shouldn’t forget we locked out the front row. 

"In quali, we had a better performance than the Red Bull, so overall in the weekend, I don’t think there’s much difference between the Red Bull and the Ferrari.” 

Instead, Binotto revealed his concern lies at the number of upgrades being made by Red Bull despite the limitations of F1’s $140million budget cap. 

“If there’s any concern, it’s how much they’re developing considering the budget cap - that’s certainly a concern,” he said. 

Binotto believes Red Bull will not be able to maintain the same level of spending all year long and hopes the Milton Keynes squad will soon be forced to back down from their aggressive development push. 

“It's true that Red Bull have improved their car since the very start of the season, and they introduced upgrades,” he added. 

“If I look at the last two races, maybe they have got a couple of tenths per lap faster to us.

“I have no doubt that in order to keep the pace, we need to develop ourselves and introduce upgrades.

“I hope, because there is a budget cap, that at some stage Red Bull will stop developing, otherwise I will not understand how they can do that.”

Ferrari set for Spanish GP upgrades 

Ferrari have so far played the long game with regards to development and are yet to introduce any major updates this season. 

That is expected to change at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix, however, with the Italian outfit planning their first major upgrade package to the F1-75. 

Binotto is hopeful the new parts brought to Barcelona will provide the team with the necessary boost to catch and overhaul Red Bull. 

“In the next races it will be at least our turn to try to develop as much as we can on the car by introducing upgrades,” he explained. 

“I think it's not a surprise that we may have a package in Barcelona which will be important for us.

“As usual, I hope that the package we are introducing is working as expected, and in that case can be a good boost in order to try and catch up the current gap we've got to the Red Bull.”

Binotto says the budget cap restraints have led to Ferrari switching focus to a more calculated development plan compared to their rivals. 

“We don’t have the money to spend for upgrades at each single race,” he said. “So I think that’s as simple as that. 

“Not because of inability, but because of the budget cap. So we somehow try to focus the developments on when we believe it’s the right moment and the right spending.” 

When asked for more details about Ferrari’s plans, Binotto replied: “We will not declare what we will do.”