Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Mattia Binotto says he intends to have a remote presence at more grands prix in 2021 when the squad begins shifting focus to 2022.
Binotto opted to skip last year’s events in Turkey and Bahrain, feeling his efforts were best focused at Maranello, and then missed the finale in Abu Dhabi due to illness.
Binotto’s role as Ferrari’s on-location leader was effectively taken by Sporting Director Laurent Mekies, and a similar scenario is expected to be carried out in the second half of 2021.
“I missed some races as in the end, there is an entire company to manage, it is not only the race weekend,” said Binotto.
“There are a lot of things going on back at Maranello, a lot of people to manage and coordinate.
“This year will hopefully be a 23-race championship. It will be very long and very dense in the second half.
“There is a quite a big challenge in 2022 to face so my intention will again be to not be part of all the races during the 2021 season.
“Certainly I’ll be part of the start of the season, that will be important, to assess our performance at the start and make sure everything is working well on the race track.
“At some stage, I will start missing some races, and be back at Maranello concentrated on 2022.
“Obviously when I’m back at Maranello, we have our garage, so I’ll always be in direct contact with the race track but as well as have Racing Director on track, Laurent Mekies.
“He has a lot of experience with us and he proved last year of being capable of leading the entire team over the race weekend so I’m comfortable with the choice and comfortable not being at the race track sometimes.”
Ferrari is set to unveil its 2021 car, the SF21, on March 10.
