Flavio Briatore, a friend and still the manager of Fernando Alonso in certain aspects of the driver’s image rights, believes that the Austrian GP next week will be a good opportunity for Aston Martin, but especially for Ferrari, to close the gap on Red Bull after what was seen in Canada.
The Italian praised Max Verstappen and sent a message to Checo Perez, who has been out of Q3 for the third time and off the podium in the three most recent races (Monaco, Spain, and Montreal).
“We witnessed the usual absolute supremacy of a driver, Max, in the Canadian Grand Prix,” Briatore told Il Reformista.
“His teammate, Checo Perez, was far behind, proving that not only the car must be good, but the driver must also be up to the task.”
Regarding the top three drivers, Flavio added that “on Sunday, we saw the three most important champions of Formula 1 on the podium. It was a podium where the three best teams and the three best drivers stood.”
Speaking about Ferrari’s performance, Briatore expressed his hope that the team can improve.
“I’m going to change my opinion regarding Ferrari this time,” he noted.
“Although they fell behind, they had a race pace close to that of Aston Martin and very similar to that of Mercedes.
“It may be the first time this year that we’ve seen the Maranello team maintain a similar pace to the British and German teams.
“Not everything is perfect, of course, as Ferrari made a mistake in qualifying, penalizing them and forcing them to start in the middle of the pack. However, we saw some hope in the red team.”
Looking ahead to the next Grand Prix in Austria, Flavio hopes “that Ferrari continues on this path and that Aston Martin closes the gap on Red Bull… Although the World Championship seems to be already decided in favor of a dominant Max Verstappen.”
In 2022, Leclerc beat Verstappen at Red Bull’s home circuit on the Dutchman’s worst day with the tires throughout the season. Carlos Sainz would have finished second had it not been for the unfortunate engine issue he experienced midway through the race.
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