Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes they lost the championship to Mercedes when it made crucial design decisions about its car for the 2019 season.

The team ended pre-season testing on a high and went into the season with hopes of ending a 10-year championship drought. But their hopes were dashed at the first race where they finished almost a full minute behind the winning Mercedes.

“I think we lost this last year when designing that car,” Binotto reflected, “because at the end we were not competitive at the start of the season. And there are reasons for it.”

Ferrari’s car was strongest at tracks power-sensitive tracks such as Monza and Spa, prompting claims the team’s design philosophy had favoured straight-line speed at the expense of peak downforce. The latter was an obvious strength for Mercedes throughout 2019.

“Our design was not as good as our main competitors,” Binotto admitted. “So I think that’s it.”

The team has also been through a restructuring process following Binotto’s installation as team principal in place of Maurizio Arrivabene at the start of the season. Former chief designer Simone Resta, who moved to Alfa Romeo last year, returned to the team last month.

“It has been an intense season,” said Binotto. “A lot to do. We restructured, reorganised the team.

“But I think in the meantime we always tried to address and improve the car and we simply did it through the season at least on some level. And now the season’s over we are going on the next one.”

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2019 F1 season