The 2022 Formula 1 World Championship is not over but, in fact, it is as if it were. The main verdict is already clear, while the Constructors title will be officially won by Red Bull most likely in just a few days, at the end of the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Scuderia Ferrari, for its part, is practically certain of the second position in the Constructors standings and, for this very reason, will try to help Charles Leclerc secure P2 in the Drivers’ championship, which, for now, belongs to Sergio Perez.
While Ferrari hopes to take at least one more win this season, the focus is mainly on the 2023 Formula 1 season, as the Ferrari challenger for next year is currently being developed in Maranello, under the observation of team principal Mattia Binotto, who knows very well that Ferrari need to improve in terms of power unit reliability and strategical decisions from the pitwall. These were two of the main factors that prevented the Italian side from challenging Red Bull as the 2022 Formula 1 season progressed. But there is also a third key aspect that the Maranello team should carefully evaluate in order to avoid difficult moments in 2023: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s drivers’ status and how Ferrari will be able to manage them in a title duel against Red Bull and maybe even Mercedes.
While the reliability and strategy calls have been two topics highly discussed this season, let’s also take a look at a third factor that may have been overlooked given the fact that Ferrari was realistically out of the title battle even before the summer break.
The role of the drivers within the team was one of the delicate issues at a certain stage of the season. After a surprising 2021 campaign in which Carlos Sainz won the internal duel with his Monegasque teammate, Mattia Binotto, somewhat surprisingly, granted a public ‘investiture’ to Charles, stating that he was the person who would have had the task of bringing the title back to Maranello. This was perhaps an improvised comments due to internal equilibrium and above all proved to be inconsistent with what was stated later and with what was seen applied during the season.
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Perhaps even this lack of confidence explains the not very solid start of the 2022 Formula 1 championship on the part of the Spanish driver who, it must however be said, struggled to adapt to the new generation of cars. The former McLaren man was interviewed by the AS newspaper a few days ago on this dynamic: “I can understand that after the first few races Charles was clearly a step forward both in qualifying and in the race, but in the middle of the season I improved a lot. I started fighting more”. Words that highlight a gradual growth path that led Carlos to obtain his first career victory, at the Silverstone circuit.
“In a certain sense it was frustrating – explained Carlos Sainz – because when I got into the fight it seemed that some did not want me there. They criticized me because I wasn’t fighting at the top, and when I started being there, some wondered what I was doing up front. It was frustrating, especially from the media. First I was criticized and then when I started to have the pace to be with the best that wasn’t good either. You have seen that I don’t pay much attention to what is said out there”.
The last sentence cannot fail to be a reference to the team principal’s winter statements. And he does nothing but describe how a professional can suffer from not being fully supported. It is no coincidence that in the next moments, Carlos Sainz pointed out to the Ferrari manager, reinforcing the idea that equal opportunities are the key for future victories.
“Mattia Binotto and the team also recognize that it is a virtue (having two drivers of the same level, ed.), Which is one of our strengths. But it is clear that some of the people following Ferrari do not want two drivers of the same level. Perhaps it is a question that concerns others, because I am convinced that the best thing for the team is that the two of us are as close as possible“.
“I have been in Formula 1 for many years and I know more or less how this sport works. I know that, more or less, in the end the important thing is the mind. Being calm, having self-confidence, is perhaps one of my strengths. The house can fall on me and I will continue to be positive and try to continue to have good results without letting myself be influenced too much. I know that I have things to improve as a driver, but I also know that I am good, that I am able to do it in any race“.
Carlos Sainz expressed his point of view quite clearly: he neither feels nor has he come to Ferrari to serve as a wingman for his Maranello teammate. And he proved it in fact in races like Monaco and Silverstone when he himself dictated the strategic line previously set by the Ferrari pit wall. A legitimate attitude that shows personality but which could clash with the needs of Ferrari.
The season that is about to end has clearly explained that, in a context of performance proximity to the competition, not focusing on a single driver is equivalent to committing suicide in this sport. When the F1-75 was on the same level as the RB18, some questionable decisions from Ferrari did in fact work in Max Verstappen’s favour and widened the gap between the Dutchman and Charles Leclerc. It is no coincidence that when the strategies penalized the Monegasque, the Spaniard benefited.
In a context of having to drivers with the same status, it is difficult to get the better of a team in which there is only one driver that fights for victories, while his partner is there to act as a sacrificial victim. See, for example, Barcelona 2022.
Mattia Binotto, in view of the next year, has three problems to solve: the technical one, because Ferrari must finally bring to the track a car that is fast and reliable enough to fight Red Bull; better strategy decisions from the Maranello team pit wall and better management of the drivers.
Because, it is useless to avoid pointing it out, if a clear pace advantage is not materialized on track, to allow both drivers to run freely far ahead of the competition, the two main drivers-scheme does not work. And contemporary F1 shows it very clearly.
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