Mattia Binotto addresses talk of team orders at Ferrari as Charles Leclerc storms into championship lead

Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says that it is far too early for his team to be considering prioritising one driver over the other, despite Charles Leclerc’s start to the season.

The Scuderia have started the 2022 season in fantastic form and it is Leclerc who is benefitting most of all from that, with him winning two of the third three Grands Prix.

With a second place in the other, he is motoring along nicely in the championship, especially when you consider that Max Verstappen has two DNFs to his name and Carlos Sainz now has a retirement too after he spun out in Melbourne.

That latter point said, then, some might wonder if Ferrari are already thinking about prioritising Leclerc to ensure he converts this early lead into a title win but, speaking post-Melbourne, Binotto has played down such a suggestion:

“We are not managing the championship.

“It’s only three races.

“We stay focused on every single race and that is the way we will approach. That one was great. In all truth, to do a good weekend and to win you need to be perfect.

“That was the case in Bahrain, because it was always very tight. We were not perfect in Jeddah and we lost. Here, again we have had a great weekend and that is how we need to approach it.

“We are happy because a victory is always good.

“At the start of the season, the car and the drivers are proving to be very competitive.

“We want to focus on ourselves and approach each race as a new race. To win you have to do everything right.

“To do well in difficult conditions, like here in Australia, is always a great satisfaction. The credit goes to the group, we all worked by staying united and trying to raise the bar, and the fruit of the work it shows.”