Binotto: Singapore performance not solely down to Ferrari upgrade

Mattia Binotto says Ferrari’s impressive performance at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix was not solely down to its latest upgrade package.

Ferrari introduced a major aerodynamic update in Singapore in a bid to find more performance at the high-downforce, slow speed circuit that it had expected to struggle at.

After appearing off the pace throughout Friday practice, Ferrari stunned its rivals in qualifying as Charles Leclerc stormed to pole position, with teammate Sebastian Vettel taking third.

The Scuderia converted its electrifying qualifying pace into its first one-two finish of the season on Sunday, with Vettel undercutting Leclerc to claim his first win in over a year.

“The aero upgrades have been a step forward, but that cannot explain all of what we have seen,” Binotto said.

“I think Singapore is still a very specific circuit, the drivers make the difference in their confidence, and the car balance has improved in the last races.

“The tyres as well, it was a different type of compounds compared to other races, and probably we made them work.”

Speaking about the progress made by Ferrari after taking his fifth pole of the season in qualifying, Leclerc explained: “Performance-wise, it seems that it’s working.

“I think data-wise it was working for the engineers too. I think, from Hungary to now, we’ve understood also the car better in a way that we know the balance we need to achieve in order to have the best performance and I think that has also showed in the results on track.

“So, I think it’s a combination of knowing where the balance needs to be and the improvements that we’ve made on the car.”

Comparing Ferrari’s performances in Singapore to the last high-downforce track in Hungary, Vettel added: “It seems like this weekend we’re not losing in those corners that we were losing in Hungary.

“So I think it’s mostly adding performance to the car and in the right place, so we were able to trim the balance, so we could extract more performance.”

Three consecutive victories have enabled Ferrari to trim Mercedes’ advantage down to 133 points in the constructors’ championship, while Leclerc has closed to within 96 points of Lewis Hamilton. Despite the team’s recent resurgence, Binotto insists the team continues to approach each race as it comes.

“We are not racing for glory, we are racing race by race with each single race,” he said.

“It’s not a matter of looking at the championship or whatever, it’s trying to do our best for this season, and our best so that we are preparing in the proper manner as well for next season.”