Charles Leclerc has won two of the opening three races of the season, with his latest win at the Australian Grand 💛Prix the mosꦜt dominant so far.

Leclerc controlled the race from the front and beat Red Bull’s Ser🎶gio Perez by over 20 seconds to move 34 points clear of George Russell in the drivers’ championship. 

The Monegasque's points tally alone is enough to put him ahead of Mercedes and Red Bꦫull in the constructors’ championship, further evidence of Leclerc and Ferrari’s storming start t⛄o the season.

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After two win-less years, Ferrari put most of its efforts into this year’s car with entirely new regulations and an engine freeze giving every team in the F1 paddock the perfect opportunity to𒆙 be the sport’s new frontrunners. 

Speaking after Leclerc’s dominant win in Melbourne, Binot🙈to conceded that he wa🌠sn’t expecting such a strong start to the year.

“Yes, certainly surprised,” he said. “I think we 𝄹worked hard and put a lot of priority on the 2022 [car]. I knew that the team was a great team and we improved ourselves compared to the past seasons and was hoping to have a competitive car at the start of the season. 

“When coming to the winter testing, we knew we had a competitive car but certainly I wasn’t expecting such a good start to the season, I think it would be unfair to think tha﷽t. I still believe that the difference between us and the others can be very little.”

Ferrari isn’t in a rush to introduce upgrades

The Scuderia has opted against introducing major upg꧑rades in the opening trio of races with it currently content with the performance level of the F1🌼-75.

Ferrari has wanted to optimise its current package before adding new parts to the ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚcar. 

With F1 ൩heading to Europe for the first time next time out, Imola🍨, in theory, could be the right time to introduce performance updates.

However, with the race at Imola a sprint weekend - one practice session ahead of qualifying - Binotto feels there wouldn’t be enough time in one 60-minute practice session to evaluate any new upg🧸rades and thus they will likely come at a later date.

“I think it will be a difficult weekend in the respect of bringing updates and trying to evaluate them in the 🐭Friday practice because obviously, you nee🦋d to focus yourself on the quali in the afternoon,” Binotto added.

“If we look at ourselves, there will not be much in Imola because again we believe it will not be the right place. We try to mitigate the issues we have seen s🦩o far, the proposing and the bouncing t𓆏hat has affected our performance at the weekend. 

“Again, we will tr🎶y to work on that specific point but for the upgrades, and more let me say significant ones, it will be for later on in the season.”

Will reliability put the title in Ferrari’s favour?

Ferrari has enjoyed impressive reliability so far in 2022 wi⛦th Sainz’s retirement in Australia (driv🐬er error) the only blemish on its record.

Its ability to finish races has allowed Leclerc to open up a significant gap over reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen, who has retired from two of🐬 the opening three races.

Similarly, Red Bull’s poor ꦕreliability - despite having a quicker car than Mercedes - has left it behind the eight-time champions in the constructors’ championship.

“Reliability is part of the performance,” Binotto explained. “To finish first, first youꦐ need to finish so reliabilit🌌y is actually a key element of the performance itself. I think that as a team we’ve put priority on it. 

“We know that it may happen to ourselves, not to finish races, that’s part of the job, of the game. It’s something which we are alwa🐷ys keeping very high in the priority. At the end of the championship, will that be a key factor? 

“Certainly, it will be as the overall performance is a key factor. I th💞ink all the ele🔴ments need to be in place, hopefully in place to win a championship.”