No gift for Frederic Vasseur
Yesterday was the birthday of Scuderia Ferrari team principal, Frederic Vasseur, who had stated before the start of the Monaco Grand Prix: “A podium wouldn’t be a bad birthday present.” However, once again in 2023, Ferrari lost ground compared to their starting positions.
Carlos Sainz went from fourth to eighth place, while Charles Leclerc “confirmed” his sixth place, which could have been a third without the mistake made by the Maranello pit wall in the final part of Q3. That mistake cost the Monegasque driver three grid positions for clearly impeding Lando Norris in the tunnel while the McLaren driver was on a flying lap.
During the race, Carlos Sainz damaged his front wing while trying to overtake Esteban Ocon but did not pay for it with a mandatory pit stop. He then complained over the radio about not being able to overtake the Frenchman’s Alpine in the pit lane, but the pit wall explained to him that at that point, the priority was to defend against Lewis Hamilton, who had pitted earlier. Later, with the arrival of rain, the Spanish driver hit the barriers at Mirabeau, losing position to his teammate. In the confusion caused by the rain, Carlos Sainz also made an error and dropped to eighth place.
Ferrari in the dark
“Red Bull, Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Alpine. These are the teams that performed better than Ferrari in Monte Carlo,” begins the article in La Stampa by Stefano Mancini. “In Monte Carlo, not even a third-place finish among the constructors was achieved. Charles Leclerc attempted a more extreme strategy without having the courage to see it through, while Carlos Sainz got lost in the numerous mistakes of his troubled days. The overall standings are disastrous: Carlos Sainz is now is 6th place with 48 points and Charles Leclerc in 7th place with 42 points. These were not the premises and promises of the season’s beginning. Even the eve of Monte Carlo was enriched with an optimism that proved to be unfounded.” – La Stampa explained.
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Leo Turrini, in the newspaper Il Resto del Carlino, speaks frankly about the difficult moment and lack of prospects for another “red shrimp” Sunday for Ferrari in Monaco: “Not even the rain helped Ferrari. Paradoxically, the downpour that fell on the Principality in the final stages of the race complicated things for the team. On the wet track, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz slipped back. The final result speaks of a sixth and eighth place. Now, it is Alpine Renault that takes the podium, along with Fernando Alonso’s evergreen Aston Martin. We are witnessing an identity crisis that is eroding the remaining hopes of Ferrari fans. Nothing seems to work, neither in terms of results nor in terms of pragmatic efficiency. Monte Carlo, with its anachronistic allure, offered a glimmer of illusion, but instead, the Prancing Horse seems condemned to the grayness of a prospect-less anonymity.” – Leo Turrini wrote.
“Rouge ne va plus. Ferrari was aiming to raise the stakes of its championship, which has been so meager so far, in Monte Carlo,” – we can read in La Repubblica with Alessandra Retico’s article. “Instead, the red car that was already performing poorly sank next to the Casino table – or rather drowned, as the rain acted as an obstacle instead of an opportunity, disrupting a starting grid that in the Principality is already the epitome of the outcome: no overtaking here. Charles Leclerc in sixth place and Carlos Sainz in 8th. Maranello is now the fifth force, surpassed not only by Esteban Ocon’s Alpine (3rd) but also by that beast Fernando Alonso (2nd, his fifth podium) with Aston Martin and the two revamped Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.” – La Repubblica concluded.
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