Cesare Fiorio, the former sporting director of Ferrari, has said that Audi must do everything it can to recruit Mattia Binotto for their Formula 1 project for 2026.
Mattia Binotto put in his resignation at Ferrari at the end of the 2022 Formula 1 season after he failed to lead Ferrari to a World Championship title even after starting off the 2022 season strongly. Max Verstappen and Red Bull managed to win both the Driver’s and the Constructor’s championships for the 2022 season.
However, the 2022 season was one of the strongest seasons by Ferrari in recent years. It was pretty evident that Mattia Binotto’s work on the Ferrari F1-75 was the main factor that led to the Scuderia returning to the front of the pack.
Audi are currently preparing in full force for their entry into Formula 1 in 2026. They have aligned with Sauber and will take over the current Alfa Romeo branded team from the 2026 season. They have already started making statements about their intentions when Andreas Seidl was appointed as the CEO of Sauber last month.
Cesare Fiorio was the sporting director of Ferrari from 1989 to 1991. He believes that right now, Audi should do everything in their power to sign Binotto to their team.
He spoke to the Italian publication Corriere Dello Sport and said, “If I were to enter F1, like the Germans, I wouldn’t let him get away.”
Cesare Fiorio believes Mattia Binotto is a great engineer
Cesare Fiorio believes that it was very unfortunate that Mattia Binotto was forced out of Ferrari. The main reason why the title challenge from Ferrari fell through was a mixture of Driver errors, Strategy errors, and reliability issues and not any shortcomings in the performance of the car.
However, Cesare Fiorio also believes that being the team principal of a team like Ferrari was too much of a challenge for Mattia Binotto. Binotto had joined the Scuderia in 1995 and from then on, had risen through the ranks throughout his 28-year stint at Maranello.
“The World Championship didn’t come because of a lack of reliability, some bad strategies, and some driver errors. Mattia Binotto was a great engineer, but being team principal is another job,” said Cesare Fiorio.
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Mattia Binotto has successfully converted two not-so-good Ferrari engines into title challengers. One of them was when the new regulations were introduced in 2014, and once more in 2022. He innovated various technologies like the smaller turbo to provide more acceleration.
Mattia Binotto would definitely be a very good asset to a team like Audi which is entering the world of Formula 1 for the first time.
The post “I Wouldn’t Let Him Get Away”: Former Ferrari Sporting Director Believes That Audi Should Sign Up Mattia Binotto appeared first on The12thMan.
