Austrian GP penalty call will give Leclerc boost - Binotto

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes Charles Leclerc’s disappointment at not winning the Austrian Grand Prix will only spur him on more to claim his first Formula 1 victory.

Leclerc took his second pole position of the season in Austria and looked on course to finally land his first grand prix victory having led the majority of last weekend’s race, only to be denied by a late charge from Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver controversially passed Leclerc with three laps to go but escaped punishment, a decision which irked both Ferrari and the Monegasque.

“I think there is no difficulty to encourage him,” Binotto said following the race.

“I think he’s already prepared for the next one, it gives him even more of a boost to somehow get his first victory in F1.

“Certainly he’s sorry for the output, I think after the qualifying it was somehow very optimistic and after the first laps of the race he was controlling the race and saw himself in a good position.

“But that’s what’s good in the sport, the chequered flag is only at the end of the race, and everything may happen.

“So I think he’s simply looking ahead at the next races as a new challenge and he’s very hungry, so I’m pretty sure sooner or later it will be his time.”

Despite Ferrari’s encouraging performance in Austria, Binotto doubts the team will be able to translate its Spielberg form to all circuits.

“I think certainly the track characteristic is the main factor,” he explained. “As I think we simply foreseen before, to come to Paul Ricard it would be a difficult weekend, we knew coming here that we may have a better chance.

“But we are aware as well we are improving our car so I think it’s a combination of two factors. After Paul Ricard we said the car ahs improved compared to Barcelona.

“Here we had new upgrades on the car that all went in the right direction, the driver confidence, there are a few things. Will we be able to fight and battle on all the tracks? I don’t think yet.

“There will be tracks where there are more difficult for us. But again, from now until then, we may bring some more development and I think we can only see race by race.”