Jock Clear, Senior Performance Engineer, recently discussed one of the most controversial periods for Ferrari. The 2022 season marked the revival of the Prancing Horse with the introduction of new technical regulations. Four victories and several pole positions were the results of that year, but the numbers could have been even higher. The British engineer was clear in his reference to Ferrari’s management in 2022, criticizing the actions taken by former team principal Mattia Binotto.
Speaking on the F1 podcast F1Nation, the Ferrari engineer, who has been at Maranello since 2014, elaborated on one of the most controversial seasons in recent years. Currently, the English engineer serves as performance coach for Charles Leclerc and has known the Monegasque driver well since his entry into the FDA. In fact, before taking on an active role within the Scuderia, Jock Clear was in charge of the Ferrari Academy, a role now held by Jerome D’Ambrosio.
“It’s one of those things I’ve often fought against,” Jock Clear stated, “without naming names, but if I tell you the words, you’ll know exactly where they come from. There were a lot of people saying, ‘We pay him a lot of money; he just needs to drive that f***ing car,’ and you thought, ‘If you think that’s all there is to it, you’re missing something because there’s a lot of stuff that needs to happen to get everything in order.'” – the British engineer pointed out.
The reference is obviously to 2022, when in the early races of the season, Charles Leclerc was leading the championship with a 46-point advantage over Max Verstappen. Despite the victories, mistakes at Imola and Paul Ricard did not help in the title fight, but they were not the only factors that slowed him down.
Totally wrong strategic choices, along with rather poor reliability and the TD039, significantly hampered Charles Leclerc’s title hopes. One of the most obvious examples was in Monaco, with a pit stop call at the wrong time, or at the Silverstone circuit in the British Grand Prix, where the strategy at the safety car entry ruined his race.
To further complicate the situation was the lack of leadership from Mattia Binotto, who did not take a stand in times of need. This was despite the speed delta between the two drivers clearly favoring the Monegasque driver.
“We are close to having a consistently competitive car.”
“The only hesitation I would have is that Charles has not yet found himself in that situation. I mean, 2022 was a good example.
Speaking about the possibility of winning the Formula One title in 2022, Jock Clear admitted, “Was there really a chance for Ferrari to win a world championship? Yes, it was, because at one point we had a 40-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship. And we were able to beat Max at many circuits. So we were not ready as a team. And I believe that, given how development went, Red Bull surpassed us by the end of the year. Certainly, not everything aligned, but there were things that Charles would say were not championship-level throughout everything we did that year. But that’s the point. You won’t win a championship until everyone is at that level.” – he continued – “So, when we are in the right position and as a team we have a car capable of competing for the championship, and I believe we are very close to having it, Charles will do his part.” – Jock Clear concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
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