Scuderia Ferrari is confident it has the means and potential to win all the remaining last ten rounds of the 2022 Formula 1 campaign, as the Maranello team attempts to save its world championship ambitions and turn things around in the title battles with Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
After a strong start to the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Italian side and its early championship leader Charles Leclerc have lost a lot of ground due to an unfortunate combination of power unit failures, bad strategy calls and some driver errors, with Carlos Sainz at the beginning of the season and Charles Leclerc in the most recent race.
The error made by Charles Leclerc on lap 18 of the French Grand Prix, crashing while leading the race at the Paul Ricard circuit and allowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take another easy race win in a race in which Ferrari had the faster car and the better tyre degradation, based on the data from the first stint and Carlos Sainz’s strong recovery drive, finishing fifth after starting from P19 and also having to take a five-second penalty.
The result in the French Grand Prix means the 2021 Formula 1 world champion now has a 63 points advantage in the drivers’ standings ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, while Red Bull are 82 points clear in the constructors’ championship.
Red Bull’s advantage is indeed huge, but not yet insurmountable, as Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto urges his team to take each race at a time and attempt to win them all, given the fact that the F1-75 car has proven it has the ability to be very fast on any type of track or weather conditions. Asked whether or not Scuderia Ferrari’s world championship prospects now relied on Red Bull suffering some mechanical failures, Mattia Binotto replied:
“I don’t know, because I’m not counting points. If you would have asked me before this race what was the gap to Red Bull or Max, I couldn’t answer to you because I’m not looking. What we are focused on is trying to go to each single race and get the maximum results from it. It didn’t happen here in Paul Ricard, but I think we’re already focused on Hungary and going there for a 1-2. I think each single race counts [the same] as the others. At the end of the season, we will do the sums and let’s see where we are.” – the Ferrari team principal added.
Mattia Binotto pointed out that Ferrari’s F1-75 car has proved so quick, with Charles Leclerc able to defend against Max Verstappen at the Paul Ricard circuit and showing a lower tyre degradation level than the RB18, has left him feeling that the Maranello can still recover the gap or at least challenge for the race win at each venue:
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“I think what’s more important to see is the good package,” he explained. “There is no reason why not to win ten races from now to the end. I think that the way to look at it is positively, and I like to be positive – staying optimistic. Could something happen to Max and to Red Bull? It already happened to them as it happened to us. Maybe it happens as well. But I’m not counting on it. I think we need to be focused on ourselves and do the best.” – the Ferrari boss continued.
Despite the fact that Charles Leclerc was left counting the cost for the error that ended his French Grand Prix on lap 18, Mattia Binotto is confident that the Monegasque’s pace is such that things could turn around in the second part of the 2022 Formula 1 season:
“What I have said to Charles is that things are more complicated, but not impossible. And simply we will enjoy more in case we can turn it into a victory at the end. We need to stay focused in each single race. If I look back on the last races, we had always a great potential. It didn’t turn into the best results in terms of championship points, but right now there is no reason why in the next 10 races that cannot happen. The potential is there. The drivers are fantastic. So I am pretty positive.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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