Binotto: 'With a different tyre choice, Mercedes could have won earlier'

It has taken Mercedes almost a whole season, but in Brazil the team finally managed a victory. For Mattia Binotto, the win did not come as a surprise and the Ferrari team boss feels that the German racing stable really should have won a race a long time ago.

After spending the lion's share of the season fixing all sorts of problems with the W13, Mercedes came up with an update package in the US Grand Prix that seemed to work wonders. Lewis Hamilton put Max Verstappen under a lot of pressure, but ultimately had to acknowledge his superiority to the Dutchman.

Ferrari not surprised by Mercedes improvements

After this, Mercedes remained competitive and Binotto even believes the W13 was faster than Ferrari's F1-75 from then on. The Brazil GP finally saw the redemptive win that the team had been yearning for all year. "It’s not a surprise, I think, that they were fast in Brazil," Binotto said in conversation with Formula1.com.

In Abu Dhabi, the Mercedes car's pace was again disappointing, especially on the colder tarmac at dusk. Binotto, however, saw opportunities for the rival team much earlier.  It’s not surprising, because if I look at the last races [before Abu Dhabi], maybe with a different tyre choice, they would already have won races. I think that they simply didn’t win because they missed the right choice of tyres," said the Ferrari team boss.