Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto says there is no need for changes within the Formula One team despite its catalogue of blunders in the first half of this season.
Ferrari added to its long list of mistakes from this season as it appeared to let victory and then a podium finish slip through its fingers at the Hungarian Grand Prix with questionable strategy calls.
After the race, Charles Leclerc said Ferrari must “get better as a whole”.
Binotto thinks Ferrari just needs to understand why it made mistakes in Budapest rather than make wholescale changes to its race-day operation.
“It’s not a matter of bad luck, and there is nothing to change as well,” Binotto said after the race on Sunday. “It’s always a matter of continuous learning and building, building experience, building skills.
“Certainly there is something that you need to look at [from the race] and understand why. But if I look again at the balance of the first half of the season, there is no reason why we should change.
“I think we simply need to address what was wrong today, we need to understand, and then to address and get back competitive at the 12 races so far and the reason why it could not be the case at the next one.”
Max Verstappen and Red Bull hold commanding points leads in F1’s two championships going into the summer break as a result.
Charles Leclerc is 80 points behind Verstappen, a seemingly insurmountable advantage going into the latter part of the season.
Leclerc was upset Ferrari did not listen to his protests about the strategy they put him on in Hungary.
Binotto thinks Leclerc and Ferrari will come back even stronger after the summer break.
“As a leader as he is [key] to continue building, building for the team and building for himself step by step, and I think to look at each single race as an opportunity to win,” Binotto said.
“We are winning and losing altogether. Today it has not been a great one but I think there is still much potential and a lot of potential.
“We need to focus first to understand the reasons of today, address them, and come back even stronger.”