Mattia Binotto wants an explanation for his team's disappointing performance at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Having spent most of the season as the main rivals to runaway champions Red Bull, Ferrari were miles off it at the weekend. Instead, it was Mercedes who were matching the leaders for pace – though Max Verstappen still saw off their challenge to win a race for the 14th time in 2022.
Carlos Sainz finished fifth with team-mate Charles Leclerc one place behind him, and given the lack of performance from their cars that was about as much as they could have hoped for. Explaining their plight, team principal Binotto admitted Ferrari "didn't have the capacity to run maximum power".
He told reporters: "In terms of power unit, we were not at our best performance for the weekend, but I don't think that's explaining the most. That’s part of the equation, but there is more than that. There is certainly more than that, and it's something which we need to look at and there is not a clear answer right now.
"The ride was not great. The balance was not great. I'm pretty sure if I'm listening at the drivers later on in the debriefing, they will tell me that the car was not turning and the reason why I think it has to be looked at and we have not a clear explanation right now."
Surprise was a theme of Binotto's post race chat with journalists. Asked if he had an inkling heading into the race weekend that it was going to a tough one for his team, the Ferrari chief replied: "No, I don't think we knew that it could have been so difficult.
"Up to FP1 as well, we didn't realise it. It was only later in the weekend that we found out that the performance was not great. Maybe, as well, FP2 and the tyre testing did not help us to assess the weaknesses in the car setup... we were not expecting it, we thought we could have been certainly a lot better and more competitive, but that was not the case."
Leclerc cut a frustrated figure after the race, as he declared: "There wasn't much we could have done more to be honest." He went on to add that he is confident that the final two races of the season will provide more opportunities for himself and for team-mate Sainz.
"I hope we won't be worse than this, because I don't expect any race worse than this," added the Monegasque. "It's probably one of the worst races, together with Spa, this one. I honestly believe that it is a one-off. But for the future, we need to understand what we can do better in those conditions for us to be better."
