Ferrari takes centre stage in the third episode of the latest instalment of Netflix’s Drive to Survive saga.
After a string of early successes, including a one-two finish in Bahrain, the team’s season slowly begins to unravel. The aptly-titled entry, “Matter Of Principal,” documents some of the team’s costly strategic errors, from Miami through to Silverstone.
After failing to pit both of their drivers under safety car conditions at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix—a decision that ultimately cost Ferrari a potential win—former boss Mattia Binotto admits the team “made a mistake” and states that they will learn from it. Christian Horner, meanwhile, welcomes a much-needed victory for Red Bull: “We managed to get it right, and Ferrari managed to get themselves tied in knots a little bit.”
Right on cue, the episode transports us to Monaco, where we see Ferrari make yet another crucial pit stop-related error in a move that dropped polesitter Leclerc to fourth. This would become something of a recurring theme throughout the season.
Binotto acknowledges his team’s struggles, commenting on the “difficult atmosphere” that hangs over both sides of the garage, but isn’t able to provide a solution as the momentum begins to swing in Red Bull’s favour. During the sit-down segments he reiterates that the main goal is to win the World Championship. Those who followed the 2022 season and happen to have an interest in Ferrari’s affairs in particular, might raise a sceptical eyebrow here. Several races into the campaign Binotto’s determination seemed to fade, the once-fiery enthusiasm dimmed to an ember as he clarified that “our objective is to be competitive, not to win the championship, and it would be completely wrong to turn that into: ‘Let’s try to win the championship because we are so competitive.’” Such contradictory statements make it difficult to gauge what the team’s objectives actually are, particularly when the team principal’s comments don’t reflect his drivers’ ambitions.
Throughout the episode Leclerc and Sainz make no effort to hide their frustration and disappointment as the strategic errors continue to cost them valuable points. “We need to get better,” Charles insists, “I’ve been trying to control my emotions, but I am not really happy with it.”
Christian Horner and some of his fellow Red Bull team members serve as recurring secondary characters, offering commentary and voicing their incredulity at Ferrari’s strategic errors: “I watched Leclerc go past, and thought the GPS must be wrong.”
The latter half of the episode focuses on the British Grand Prix, where the team made headlines after a controversial strategic call. Although Carlos Sainz came away with a maiden win, the weekend was soured by the team’s failure to maximise their points haul, with race leader Leclerc once again bearing the brunt of the pit wall’s decision-making.
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
In hindsight, Silverstone can be considered a crucial turning point in Ferrari’s championship campaign—and the beginning of the end for Mattia Binotto himself.
In what is possibly one of the most revealing scenes in the entire episode, Binotto is seen conversing with two men in the paddock. Reluctant to take responsibility for what was an evident strategic blunder, he doubles down: “I don’t agree. […] We made the right decision. We don’t know how it would have turned out if things happened differently. What tells you [Charles] would have won if he had stopped?”
Photo credits: Netflix
“Matter Of Principal” doesn’t cover the Hungarian Grand Prix in the context of Ferrari (likely to avoid bloating the episode when the point had already been succinctly made). We know, however, that Binotto went on to argue the same following the latest strategic fiasco in Hungary. Leclerc made his feelings clear after a difficult stint on hard tyres and a late switch to softs denied him a potential victory as he ultimately finished P6: “I’m very, very disappointed obviously. The pace was really good on the medium tyres, (…) everything was under control and then we decided to stop on the hards. I don’t exactly know what are the reasons behind this decision yet, but (…) clearly it wasn’t the right decision.”
Much like in Silverstone, the team failed to capitalise on rival Verstappen’s misfortune as he took an unexpected win after starting tenth and extended his lead in the standings. When pressed for answers, team boss Binotto determined that the F1-75’s lack of “speed and pace” was the real culprit, rather than the strategy, adding: “I don’t think we could have won today.”
The glaring discrepancy between Leclerc and Binotto’s statements only dented the team’s credibility further. It’s worth noting that just a week earlier, Binotto had responded to the growing criticism by stating that “there is no reason why not to win ten races from now to the end.” (Spoiler: neither Ferrari driver took any victories in the remaining ten races of the 2022 season.)
Verstappen and Red Bull went on to clinch both titles, and Leclerc had to lower his expectations: by the end of the season he was merely looking for a clean weekend. Even when the pressure of the championship fight was off, however, mistakes continued to creep in—like in São Paulo, where Leclerc fell victim to a qualifying split strategy gamble that backfired—while Binotto continued to dig his heels in, insisting that “there is nothing to change.”
Still, something had to give, and it wasn’t long until rumours started circulating about Binotto stepping down from his role at Ferrari. Frédéric Vasseur was officially announced as the team’s new team principal on 13 December 2022.
Ferrari is heading into 2023 hoping to end a sixteen-year title drought, which means Vasseur will be expected to take responsibility and make the difficult decisions his predecessor couldn’t in order to usher in positive changes at the team.
The process seems to have already begun, with Ferrari confirming a personnel reshuffle on the pit wall—Iñaki Rueda is set to take on a factory-based role, with Ravin Jain promoted to a prominent trackside strategy role in his stead. Vasseur has also clarified that right-hand man Laurent Mekies will be responsible for team operations, with Vasseur himself focusing on handling matters related to the drivers, sponsors, and media.
