Why Ferrari’s biggest Red Bull concern isn't about F1 rival's pace

The world champion became the first driver to win cꦺonsecutive races this season after overtaking and then fending off his main title rival Charles Leclerc for victory a🐟t 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 Bul🔜l aဣfter 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 ꦜand we shouldn’t forget we locked out the front row.
"In quali, we had a better performanceꦍ than the Red Bull, so overall in the weekend, I don’t think there’s much difference between the Red Bull and the Ferrar🦄i.”

Instead, Binotto re⛎vealed 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 co♑ncern, it’s how𝓡 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 ofꦦ 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 have𓂃 no doubt that in order ܫto keep the pace, we need to develop ourselves and introduce upgrades.
“I hope, because there is a bud⛄get cap, that a🥀t 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 t🍸o development and are yet to introduce any major updates this season.
That is expected to change at the upcoming Spanish Grand Pr🅷ix, however, with the Italian outfit planning their first major upgrade package to the F1-75.
Binotto is hopeful th꧑e new parts brought to Barcelona will provide the team with the necessary boost to catch and overhaul Red Bull.
“In the ওnext races it will be at least our turn to try to develop as much as we can on tℱhe car by introducing upgrades,” he explained.
“I think it's not a surprise that we may have a packa🍸ge in Barcelona which will be important for u𒐪s.
“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 budg෴et 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 asꩵ simple as that.
“Not because of inability, but because of the budget cap. So we somehow try t🌸o 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.”

Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.🧸com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.