F1 | Ferrari alarm bells ring after worrying performance data
Results have been hard to come by for Ferrari in this F1 season, and their hold on second place in the Constructors’ Championship could be under threat. So far, the team’s performance has fallen short of expectations. Among the top teams, Scuderia Ferrari remains the only one without a victory after 17 races. Despite this, until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari had managed to secure second place in the Constructors’ standings. However, after the latest round, the team returned with only a small haul of points, which caused a sharp slowdown in the battle for second. Mercedes capitalized on Ferrari’s misstep, gaining a four-point advantage over the Maranello squad.
Podcast insights highlight concerns
During the podcast “Terruzzi racconta,” hosts Giorgio Terruzzi and Stefano Nicoli highlighted several concerning aspects of Ferrari’s season.
A glimpse of weakness
Giorgio Terruzzi shared some data from the last three Grands Prix that raises questions: “In the last three races, Ferrari scored 26 points, Red Bull 27, Williams 31, Mercedes 54, McLaren 64, and Red Bull 78. Second place in the Constructors’ Championship has been lost. Red Bull is closing in. We are somewhat powerless, constantly using words to describe Ferrari’s situation that are far from reality.”
Nicoli sounds the alarm
Stefano Nicoli also sees the current situation as somewhat alarming, particularly in light of recent statements by the drivers and team principal Frédéric Vasseur: “Three disappointing moments in Azerbaijan: the predictions, the pre-race declarations going back to Monza when Charles Leclerc said: ‘We will have chances in Monza, Baku, Singapore, and Las Vegas.’ Two out of four went as expected, and the fact that even on favorable tracks the results are lacking is not just a warning bell, it’s a loud alarm bell. Assuming, of course, that Singapore might bring a 1-2 finish. Anything is possible.”
Comparing strengths across teams
Other teams, such as Red Bull and Mercedes, have shown clear strengths on certain circuits. For example, the Milton Keynes team has won twice on low-downforce tracks, while Mercedes has proved particularly competitive when track temperatures are not high. And Ferrari? According to Stefano Nicoli, the Maranello team has yet to find a setup that suits the SF-25: “Ferrari has not yet found a condition: street circuits, long corners, slow corners, permanent tracks, rain, sun, heat, cold. Nothing has worked.”
