Binotto admits Ferrari 'needs to react' at Monza

Mattia Binotto says Ferrari is currently enduring "a difficult moment" that has put the team up against the wall ahead of its home race at Monza where it "certainly needs to react".

Another race, another misstep is how one could describe the Scuderia's Dutch Grand Prix last weekend at Zandvoort.

Disastrous execution on Carlos Sainz's first pitstop left the Spaniard stationary for over 12 seconds, which pushed the Ferrari driver down from third to eleventh from where he recovered to finish P8, not without also being hit with a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.

The fumbled pitstop was the latest blunder in a series of strategy and operational missteps that have cost the team and its drivers dearly this season.

Charles Leclerc's early commanding lead in the Drivers' standings is but a distant memory, with the Monegasque's solid gain evolving into a significant deficit relative to championship leader Max Verstappen as the mistakes – including Leclerc's own couple of errors – piled up.

On the even of Ferrari's all-important home race, the Scuderia trails Red Bull in F1's Constructors' standings by 135 points while Leclerc is now 109 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers' championship.

"It is certainly a difficult moment right now and for our team because we are not getting the results with the expectations that we have got," Binotto conceded.

"We need to react and Monza, we will have the tifosi there after COVID and to have them in the grandstands will be important for us as they cheer for us and boost us as a team.

"Right now, we need to find some good results for the spirit and the mood."

• Read also: Ferrari brightens up F1-75 for Monza with a touch of yellow

While execution - or the lack of - is a concerning factor at Ferrari, the performance of the Scuderia's F1-75 relative to its Red Bull counterpart is equally worrying.

The Italian outfit knew that it would be outgunned by the bulls' RB18 in Spa's high-speed, low downforce environment.

But it had hoped to draw closer to its rival at Zandvoort last weekend, and that was not the case, which worries Binotto.

"My main concern is that it has been three races in a row where we do not have the pace on Sunday," he said. "It is quite parallel to the one in Hungary.

"This weekend we had a good quali, a quali where we have been competitive.

"But in the race itself we are not competitive enough, which makes life certainly a lot more difficult, not only because we cannot fight for the win with Max but because we do not have the pace to keep the Mercedes behind.

"I think it is now three races in a row that we are not at what should be our potential. This is something we need to address as soon as possible because there are a few races left from now until the end of the season.

"We are still looking for victories and our intention is to win at every single race, including Monza."

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