Monte Carlo was supposed to bring some respite, a breath of fresh air while waiting for better times. However, at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in the Principality, Scuderia Ferrari finds itself facing new questions. While a significant part of the problems plaguing the team is the lack of performance from the SF-23, other critical issues have emerged after the Monte Carlo weekend.
There is no doubt about the truthfulness of one of the unwritten laws of the paddock (“when the car performs well, everyone in the team becomes better, including the cooks”), but if the overall result at the end of the Monaco trip consists of a sixth and eighth place, something besides the SF-23 single-seater didn’t work.
Monaco showed that Red Bull and Aston Martin are currently out of reach for Ferrari, even on a high-downforce circuit, erasing the (high) ambitions that the team had before the weekend.
This verdict was influenced by an FP3 session in which the setup direction was not the best, a problem with driver-track communications that resulted in Charles Leclerc’s demotion from third to sixth on the starting grid, and a very conservative race management that turned out to be a wrong move.
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In the first part of the race, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc maintained their respective positions in fourth and sixth. “I think the first stint went quite well,” commented Frederic Vasseur. “We got stuck behind Ocon, and Carlos tried, perhaps a bit too much, to overtake Esteban. But I believe our pace was good in this phase.”
The Ferrari plan was to extend the first stint as much as possible (both drivers started on the hard tires), but Lewis Hamilton’s pit stop on lap 31 forced Carlos Sainz to change tires two laps later. Carlos complained over the radio about this early call, but the strategists made the right decision. “It was the right call,” Frederic Vasseur reiterated. “We had to cover Hamilton to avoid losing a position. In Monaco, you can’t afford that. Without Lewis, of course, we would have extended the stint, but Lewis was there.” – the French manager pointed out.
The fear of being undercut also played a role in Charles Leclerc’s pit stop on lap 44. Charles gradually lost performance, and with Pierre Gasly close behind, there was a risk that an Alpine pit stop could result in losing the position. However, the weather forecast comes into play here, namely the expected rain that arrived ten laps after the Monegasque’s stop. If Charles had waited (he was in third place at that time), he would have had a chance to aim for the lowest step of the podium.
“We didn’t expect the rain to be as intense as we saw,” Fred Vasseur revealed. “We were counting on there being little water on the track and that it would quickly dry up.”
However, the rain arrived, and while Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Pierre Gasly pitted on lap 54, Scuderia Ferrari waited for one more lap. In that lap, the Spaniard made a mistake that cost him ten seconds and two positions, lost to Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, while the undercut worked for the two Mercedes.
“We took a gamble,” Fred Vasseur admitted. “In hindsight, it’s easy to understand what would have worked best, but I don’t regret it. Even before the start of the race, we knew we had to dare to try for a podium.” – he continued.
The result of the weekend saw Ferrari secure the fifth-highest points haul, behind Mercedes and Alpine as well. This verdict puts a lot of responsibility on the “Barcelona” test weekend, where the highly anticipated updates on the SF-23 will be seen on the track.
It will be a crucial moment in the Scuderia’s season, as the risk is not only to continue losing points to direct competitors but also to see motivation decline. And that is a risk that Ferrari cannot afford.
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