The 109 points behind in the Drivers ‘standings and the 135 points in the Constructors’ standings. This is the bitter reality for Scuderia Ferrari ahead of the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, with just seven races left until the end of the championship. A season that started so promising for the Maranello team, with a great F1-75 car in the first part of the campaign, is turning out to be a very disappointing year, due to several power unit reliability issues and strategy mistakes that led to many points lost in the first half of the championship.
Now Red Bull also seems to have out-developed the Italian side and has the fastest car on the grid, based on what could be seen in the last three races, with the RB18 clearly the best challenger in the hands of Max Verstappen. As a result, Ferrari has further reconsidered expectations for 2022. The focus is increasingly shifting to the next season, when Ferrari will have to demonstrate that it has understood and fixed the mistakes which compromised a title fight that everyone expected after the first three rounds.
The Maranello team’s hopes of challenging for the title slowly disappeared, race after race. There is now an feeling of resignation on the part of Charles Leclerc, who reiterated that podiums are not enough for him. The news of the last few days is that team principal Mattia Binotto also seems to have given up on the current F1 campaign: the impression is that Hungary was the decisive blow, since the F1-75 car should have been able to take a one-two finish at the Hungaroring circuit (a statement even made by Mattia Binotto himself ahead of the race in Budapest) but eventually Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had to settle for positions outside the podium, while Max Verstappen took the stage with yet another stellar race and win, despite starting from P10.
“We didn’t have a strong rhythm, and that’s the thing that worries me the most,” said Mattia Binotto in Hungary. In his own way, he was right: strategic errors ruin a Grand Prix, but without the race pace one cannot even dream of certain results, regardless of strategy. From Hungary onwards, the Italian side has never had the potential to keep Verstappen at bay, all while Mercedes got closer and closer.
A season that presents no more interest for Ferrari, then? Not really: “There is very little left regarding the development of this year’s car, I think it is also true for all our rivals. The team is now working mainly on the next project. The 2023 F1 car is getting off to a good start right now” – the Ferrari team principal confirmed after the Zandvoort event.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
“Of course, if there was something we should understand from what is happening now to correct it on the next car, there would be time to do it. This is why I say that it is important for us to react and return to being competing as soon as possible to fight for the best results, because it will somehow mean having addressed this problem that we have in terms of race pace, which has been affecting us in the last races.” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto concluded.
