Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, Silverstone, 2019

Red Bull “very close” with Ferrari for second-fastest team – Binotto

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In the round-up: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says there is now little to choose on performance between his team and Red Bull.

What they say

Binotto was asked if Red Bull are now the second-quickest team in F1:

They certainly improved. If you look at the last two races as a matter of fact they won in Austria and they have been very competitive [at Silverstone] in the race. I think our package and their package are very close and I think that the last two races have shown it.

Are they the second, are we the second? I think we are pretty close. I think eventually for us it is giving even more boost because we know that we need to further improve, we need to be capable of fighting for the first position every single race whatever is the circuit and it has not been the case today, no doubt, and I think in that respect it’s disappointing.

We know that after quali I would say we were expecting a better result but the pace was not good enough. I think there is still a lot to improve.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

An interesting question about penalty points:

As penalty points last for 12 months, and as F2 uses the same system as F1, should F2 points roll over if you get promoted to F1?

Maybe not. But should they roll over from F3 to F2 as they’re both junior battle grounds, and very much more interlinked?
@Eurobrun

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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35 comments on “Red Bull “very close” with Ferrari for second-fastest team – Binotto”

  1. Prarag Chopra
    17th July 2019, 0:35

    Hulkenberg would feel hard done by, given this admission came from Abiteboul himself. Must be frustrating time for him with an uncertain future. He definitely deserve to remain on the grid in 2020.

    1. There have been rumours linking him to Red Bull… but hey, there’ve always been those rumours.

    2. Hearing Hulkenberg on the cool down lap after the race i guess his time at Renault is up.
      And i fear he has nowhere to go after that. Very young drivers seem to be the more interesting choice for teams since we see the likes of VER, NOR, LEC, RUS and so on… cheaper, more hungry, more versatile. If you race in F1 for that long and only have a pole position in special circumstances to show for – that’s just not enough. The top tier drivers make their own luck and he surely hasn’t had any. I guess another year with Renault will be the max he can hope for right now.

      1. I fear hulk’s big chance was missed a long time ago – not by him, but by the top teams who spurned him. he spent too long in the mid-field and had an inconclusive outcome against perez (who had a shot in the mclaren – though admittedly it wasn’t exactly a top team that year). he would have been a good fit alongside alonso but once ferrari got set in its ways with raikkonen and bottas snatched the mercedes seat, there was nowhere to go for hulkenberg.

        and, as many predicted, his only chance this year was to out-perform ricciardo, but the reverse seems to be happening (i thought it would be closer between them). hulkenberg is clearly a good driver and you can argue, one that doesn’t get the rub of the green – but after all these seasons, we can’t keep saying it’s down to bad luck. the really top drivers seem to overcome bad luck. with the likes of verstappen, leclerc and even norris, russel etc, performing to a high level, there’s really no chance of nico getting that elusive top drive.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          17th July 2019, 16:30

          @frood19 I also thought it would be closer between them. Hulk has to outperform Ricciardo or at least match him.

          I’ve no idea what’s going on with him this season. In many ways, his season is very much like Vettel’s.

          1. If you look carefully, in qualy its being a big surprise that Ricciardo is dominating Hulk quite consistently, but if you look the race pace then you see that there is no big difference, quite the opposite I should say. Hulk seems faster than Ricciardo often than in the other way.

            So, when you take into account that Hulk has never had a strong race pace (as you may conclude from his days against Perez), then It’s not so crazy to say that Hulk and also Ricciardo should not be considered as WDC material anymore.

          2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            17th July 2019, 18:04

            … should not be considered as WDC material anymore

            Interesting comment that begs the question of how many drivers in the paddock really look like WDC material?

            Verstappen looked terrible during the 1st half of last year… He looks great now…

            Gasly went from being promoted from Red Bull in 1 year to Lance Stroll in record time:-)

            Sainz is doing good but Hulk was better than him last year. Norris is doing well too but it’s too early to tell that he’s better than Sainz.

            Perez looked like a F2 driver compared to Hulk when he first joined Force India until something clicked but he was still outqualified by Hulk.

            Hulk is having the worst season of his career. Ricciardo is having a slightly better season but not phenomenal either.

            Russell – it’s hard to tell when he’s driving the worst car and there’s such a difference to Kubica. The difference is so large that it’s hurting him. Kubica, I wish I could say positive things…

            Haas drivers? Not without a shovel to dig themselves out of the hole they are both in :-)

            Vettel certainly doesn’t look like WDC material and by extension Kimi doesn’t either due to his stints at Ferrari against Vettel.

            Can Max put a whole season together? So far he hasn’t really done so.

            Can Leclerc put a whole season together? He seems like he might be able to but his enthusiasm might wane as Ferrari finds ways to screw up his races.

            Bottas looks stronger but definitely doesn’t look like WDC material against Lewis.

            The only driver who actually looks like WDC material on the grid unquestionably is Lewis.

          3. @freelittlebirds, strange your doubts about Ver but the very error-prone lec should be able according to you.
            You seem to forget Baku and Monaco to name a few recent blunders by lec.

          4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            18th July 2019, 2:23

            Hence why I also questioned whether CL can put a whole season together. Both MV and CL would be WDC material if they had a solid season.

      2. @Skinner Based on what he said to Will Buxton ahead of the British GP he seems/feels confident of staying at Renault beyond the current campaign. ”I think, it’s most likely that I’ll remain with the team.”

        https://youtu.be/dl8KFXasSZ4?t=1743

    3. What has Hulk done in F1 to “definitely deserve” to be there next season??

      Yes he’s a nice guy and good driver but good is his limit.

      1. @eoin16 he has a long career of being a reliable points scorer – that is after all the name of the game. he hasn’t hit the highs we might have expected, but there’s a lot of mid-field teams that would (budget allowing) be very pleased to take him. he’s surely got a higher cache than a number of drivers in the sport (and he’s obviously more proven than those outside F1).

      2. @eoin16 Be one of the top 20 drivers currently racing.

  2. Honda finally came good with those PU’s.

    1. I was thinking the same thing seeing Max against the Ferrari’s.

      Sounds great, good power and reliability is streets ahead then previous years. The Alonso curse maybe?

  3. It seems like the Ferrari in race configuration is not as strong. The car is very hard on the tires and understeers a lot.
    Im guessing that in quali mode the car generates just about enough downforce but in the race at slower speeds it’s not working as intended.

    1. Not getting their strategy right and driver mistakes helped ferrari underperform though @auskpy.

      I really don’t think Ferrari is slower than Red Bull even in the races. Just look at the fight between Max and Charles. Neither was able to really get away from the other during that fight. And Max wasn’t able to pull away from Vettel easily either.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      17th July 2019, 7:29

      auskpy This doesn’t make sense. If the Ferrari is heavier on tyre use, why would they pick the softer compound for the start in Austria and Silverstone while the other top teams opted to start on medium? In reality they simply picked the wrong strategy and it cost Leclerc on both occasions. Vettel was lucky with the safety car in Silverstone to get to P3 for a while, but he was just slow.

    3. LeClercs Ferrari seems to be doing just fine.

    4. Ferrari are slower during races because they cant run their high engine modes.

  4. No, wrong, Red Bull IS 2nd fastest already and galloping fast towards No.1! What gives an edge to Ferrari in qualifications is a monster of an engine.

  5. F1oSaurus (@)
    17th July 2019, 7:26

    The difference is more like that Red Bull are now using the new Honda “party mode” during the race.

    It was clear in Austria that once Verstappen switched to engine mode 11, he started gaining quickly on the cars ahead. Sounded like he was using the same engine mode in Silverstone as well.

    It will mean their engines won’t last the required distance, but they don’t care.

    1. Krzysztof Krzewniak
      17th July 2019, 10:49

      Looks that way to me, but we can’t be sure. One thing that sort of suggests that’s the case is that they seemed to be very fast on the straights in race trim, I recall Gasly nearly retaking the position from Leclerc even though Leclerc had DRS at that point.
      It might be due to a better corner exit, but I’m not sure as he was gaining through the entire length of the straight not just in the initial acceleration phase.

    2. Because RedBull are trying to compete for wins, while Ferrari are trying to compete for Chmpionships.

      But RedBull are succeeding at their goal of a few victories, while Ferrari are failing quite badly at their Championship goal. Yet again Ferrari mess up the strategy.

      They should switch their car to 11 aswell, and light up 4-5 races per year.

    3. And redbull can run them engine modes during a race because unlike Ferrari and Mercedes the dont have to use their engines for 7 races. While Ferrari and Mercedes have to look after their engines redbull can use theirs up because they are basically bringing new engines every 3 races so far.

      1. I think the mode 11 is a bit overrated. Maybe they ask for a mode 13 and win every race.
        It seems it really is just a setting, nothing special. But people seem to believe in fairytale in f1.

  6. I think Red Bull possibly have the better all round package this season and with Ferraris occasionally odd strategy calls it is definitely putting them in a better position to get podiums.
    Unfortunately I think it is as much a case of Ferrari struggling as it is of Red Bull improving.

  7. Good to see Abiteboul admit to a mistake with Hulk and i hope they address it. I’m a Ricciardo supporter but not at the expense of his team mate.

    1. @johnrkh – agreed. I’m no fan of Cyril, but it is good of him to accept this. He could very well have hidden behind the “lead driver gets priority” sort of excuse instead of holding his hand up.

    2. It really looks as if ricci is an undisputed number one. Probably even in his contract.

  8. It looks to me that Red Bull is a qually mode away from challenging for wins in most circuits. At Silverstone they probably could have been racing the Mercs had Max got in front of LeClerc at the start. He qualified only 0.2 from the Mercs and we all know how powerful the Mercedes qually mode is. I’m sure Horner and co are praying that Honda can do something about that by the end of the summer break.

    1. I’m sure Horner and co are praying that Honda can do something about that by the end of the summer break.

      @kamto they will surely need that qualy mode in Hungary, in order to qualify on the front row, otherwise it will be very hard to pass anyone even if they are much quicker in race trim.

      1. @gechichan and Singapore.

  9. How much faster can they get with the pit stops anymore?

    1. @jerejj Given that they are likely to standardize pit-stop equipment, I’d say there is a good chance 2019 and 2020 will be the last years of the sub-2-second pit stop for a long time.

Comments are closed.