The Maranello-based team was locked in a battle for third place with McLaren throughout the season, but managed to break away from its British rival in the final part of the season, thanks in particular to results in the last three races.
Ferrari are 39.5 points clear of McLaren with just two races left after the Woking team scored just four points in the recent triple-header in Mexico, Brazil and Qatar.
But despite the progress made by Ferrari – which finished sixth overall last year with less than half the points it scored in 2021 – Binotto insists the focus on developing his car for 2022 should be for the launch of new ones regulations lay.
“We never really developed the current car,” said Binotto. “We introduced a few developments right at the start of the season and that was it.
“Except for the engine later, but the engine, that was again a development with 2022 in mind, so all our efforts from the start of the season have always been the 2022 car, we never compromised it.
“So let’s assume that it never occurred to us to ever try to penalize 2022 in favor of 2021.
“We knew we could have been fighting for third place earlier this season, we knew it could have been very close, but we knew our main goal in 2021 wasn’t third place but to try and get ourselves A team to improve in every detail and third place was simply a result of that.
“I think if we get third place today it’s because the team, the way they work on the different weekends, has improved a lot since the start of the season and not because the car developed itself,” he added.
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21, battles with Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Binotto reckons several factors outside of car and engine development have contributed to Ferrari’s leap forward this season.
“I think the racing team has made a lot of progress since the start of the season,” he said.
“It has made great strides in terms of strategy, management, communication with drivers and understanding of what we are doing. It has improved a lot in terms of tire management.
“I think since Paul Ricard the team has developed a lot of little tools and methods to try to do better.
He added: “Looking back at where we were sixth last year with low points in the championship, I think we made the most of the current regulations and most cars also had very limited development opportunities, well over the car in 2021.
“So overall I think the team has made a lot of progress with what was possible and I’m so happy about that because yes, third place is a great result of the effort.”
