Former Ferrari engineer sees similarities to 2006, but “hopefully with a different ending”. Former Ferrari engineer sees similarities to 2006.

Two races down in the 2022 Formula One championship, two amazing duels between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who look set to fight for this year’s F1 title. The Ferrari driver took the win in the first round of the season, when Max Verstappen retired with a few laps to go, and for a long time it looked as if the Monegasque driver would make it two out of two in Saudi Arabia last Sunday. Unfortunately, Charles had to eventually settle for P2 after a thrilling fight with the 2021 world champion.

This year finally seems to be a chance for Scuderia Ferrari to bury some demons. The last time the Maranello team was in title contention — with Sebastian Vettel, in 2017 and 2018 – Ferrari started both years with the fastest car, and kept it so for the first part of the championship, only for their campaign to unravel following a series upgrades that did not work and mistakes from team and driver, after Mercedes out-developed them. The season is still very long and the competition is fierce, but in the meantime the Italian side has already passed the first exam, that is to bridge the gap that separated them from the top of the category, which at the moment sees Ferrari and Red Bull compete against each other.

Engineer Luigi Mazzola, who worked for Ferrari from 1988 to 2009 as head of the activity linked to track tests, sees several similarities between 2022 and 2006, which was Michael Schumacher’s last year at the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car. At that time, the German and Ferrari were returning from a difficult season following a golden shine of success. The redemption in 2006 was ‘immediate’, but not enough to beat the duo formed by Fernando Alonso and Renault, who confirmed themselves as world champions at the end of a hard-fought season: “I see many similarities with 2006” – Luigi Mazzola’s words interviewed by the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport – “I hope the ending is different. The machine has proved ready since the tests. The only flaw, if we want to nitpick, is having lost the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. With Michael Schumacher at the wheel and with all the entourage of the time we would not have lost. Ferrari could have managed the tyres and the aerodynamic downforce better in Saudi Arabia, Charles Leclerc’s face after the race was there to prove it”. – Luigi Mazzola explained.