Canadian professional racing driver Jacques Villeneuve, who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams, feels that it would “embarrassing” for Scuderia Ferrari not to finish second in the 2022 Formula 1 Constructor Standings, as the Maranello team now only has a 19-point advantage over Mercedes in the duel for second place, following the Silver Arrows’ one-two finish in last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Maranello team started the current season strong, winning the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Australian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc after the first three rounds of the campaign. At that moment, everyone expected the Italian side to challenge Red Bull for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, while Mercedes was nowhere near close to fighting even for podium finishes based on race pace.
Unfortunately, Scuderia Ferrari has not been able to build on that early championship promise, due to a series of technical failures and poor strategical calls in the first half of the sessions. Gradually, the F1-75 car lost to both Red Bull and Mercedes in terms of performance as the season progressed, up to the point of Ferrari now facing the unexpected prospect of missing out even on P2 in the Constructor Standings against a resurgent Mercedes team, who in the last two events proved clearly faster than the Italian side.
Mercedes proved able to even put an end to Red Bull’s series of nine consecutive victories, as George Russell secured the race win last Sunday wins at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos, once again highlighting the opposing directions the teams seem to be heading in this final part of the 2022 Formula 1 campaign.
Former Formula 1 driver Jacques Villeneuve strongly feels that something needs to change in Ferrari’s management structure after another poor season:
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“Should Ferrari lose the second spot in the Constructors’ Championship, that would be embarrassing.” – the 1997 Formula One world champion wrote on his blog for Formule1.nl after the Brazilian Grand Prix – “They should have fought with Red Bull, there is something there that is not working. The decision-making in qualifying was also vague: [Charles] Leclerc says it’s not raining, but the team says it is. That came across as strange. As if there are robots sitting there just making calculations. By the way, let’s not forget that both [Carlos] Sainz and Leclerc drove a very strong race.” – he explained.
The Canadian also admitted to being surprised about Max Verstappen’s behaviour in Sao Paulo, as the world champion did not want to help his Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez by giving him back sixth position at Interlagos, despite the Austrian side repeatedly asking him over the team radio to do so.
Sergio Perez is involved in a close duel with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for second in the standings, with one round to go until the end of the season, while Max Verstappen had nothing to play for in the final stages of the Brazilian Grand Prix: “I can’t understand Verstappen’s reaction. Why is he bothered about sixth or seventh? It doesn’t change anything for him, for Perez as well as the team it does make a difference and he has helped him so much in the past. It wasn’t like Max had to give up a podium spot, as in the case of Sainz and Leclerc.” – Jacques Villeneuve concluded.
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