Binotto: Unfair to question Red Bull/Honda pace

Mattia Binotto says it would be “unfair” to questionRed Bulland Honda’s pace after Max Verstappen claimed pole position and the victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen dominated Saturday’s qualifying at the Interlagos circuit,taking pole by 0.123s ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

A day laterhe raced to the victorywith Honda putting two cars on the podium as Pierre Gasly claimed a surprise P2.

But while Verstappen recently questioned Ferrari’s power unit, going as far asto accuse them of “cheating”after they lost pace following an FIA Technical Directive regarding fuel burning, Binotto says he won’t jump on that bandwagon.

“I am not able to explain what they are doing, I only know how we work,”GrandPx.newsreports the Ferrari team boss as having told the Italian media.

“Their speed was high, but to say surprising would be unfair.”

The Italian instead focused on Ferrari’s performance.

Although the Scuderia recordeda double DNF after a late-race crash, Binotto is nonetheless happy with the improvementsFerrarihave made over the course of this season.

“Max was a couple of tenths faster, so there is work to be done,” he said.

“But we have recovered a bit of the gap from the start of the season.

“We win when we have the fastest and most reliable car, but we are moving forward.

“We have identified our weaknesses and this gives us hope for next year.

“If we look at this season overall, we lost because we still need a couple of tenths.”

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