Berlin, Aug 24 (IANS): It is wrong to say that Ferrari are only challenging in Formula One this season because of new aerodynamic rules, team principal Mattia Binotto says.

Defending champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull lead the way as the championship resumes in Belgium this weekend after a mid-season break. But Ferrari are not far away and could have been even closer to Red Bull but for some bad strategy calls, reports DPA. Mercedes, previously a dominant team, have struggled with the new rules this year.

But the accusation that Ferrari have improved because they were able to concentrate on the 2022 rules more last season when they were long out of the running rankles with Binotto.

"I think it's wrong," he told Autosport.

"The reason why is, first, we all started exactly the same time to develop the 2022 car. That was January 2021, when finally it was possible to start simulating and going into wind tunnels with new cars. Before that, we could not do it.

"So it's not that we anticipated the start to the development compared to others. We all started exactly at the same time.

"Then, it's a matter of how much resources and priority you could put on the project. Maybe the two cars which were fighting for the 2021 championship had to put some more developments into 2021, but I think we did it as well ourselves, because we were in the fight with McLaren (for third).

"I think that finishing fourth was not our objective. We had to fight with them to the end of the championship and we developed our cars through 2021 as well."