Italian press blasts 'weak' Vettel
Mattia Binotto says Ferrari is not panicking after a bad start to the 2019 season.
The entire paddock was stunned in Melbourne to discover that, after the Maranello team's dominance of winter testing, Mercedes and also Red Bull-Honda were faster at the first race.
"We need to analyse what happened here in peace at the factory," new team boss Binotto said.
"I remain convinced that we have a good car. We haven't seen our true potential on a race weekend yet," he added.
The pressure is also mounting on the shoulders of 'number 1' Sebastian Vettel. Binotto confirmed that only a team order meant Charles Leclerc didn't pass him for fourth position.
"At that time we did not want to jeopardise the result we had. For us it made no sense for Charles to attack him," he said.
At one point, Vettel even asked his engineer on the radio: "Why are we so slow?"
La Gazzetta dello Sport said it was a "weak" performance by Vettel.
"Leclerc seems to have more energy and openly admits that he was told to stay behind in the final stages of the race," said the Italian sports daily.
But boss Binotto insists he is staying calm.
"This weekend was unexpected. We thought we could improve the balance over the weekend, but it didn't happen. Today I have no answer.
"But we stay calm because we believe in the potential of this car. We think this was an outlier that hopefully will not be repeated. Maybe it's a good lesson for us," he said.
Vettel is also confident Ferrari is still in the fight with Mercedes and Red Bull-Honda for the world championship.
"It was one race," said the German. "Mercedes is very strong and the rest are far behind, but it's a long year," he said.
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Ironically its places like the "La Gazzetta dello Sports" that are their own worst enemies. Its ONE race and there obviously was an issue (unknown) at this time with Vettel's car. Ferrari needs to keep sources like this at a distance. Keep their heads down, and focus on their own forward progress.
Remember last season when Vettel won 2 first races but in the end Ferrari failed to clinch the title.I suspect that we could see reversal this year and Ferrari gets to the top after an unexpected glitch at the start of this season and I trust the team will 'recharge their batteries' and race the Prancing Horse to victory in Bahrain. It is not time to jump into wrong conclusion but we all know it is going to massive battle between Bottas and Lewis and Vettel and Verstappen as well as Charles Leclerc.