Dutch television presenter and racing driver Allard Kalff has made a damning assessment of Scuderia Ferrari, its drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as well as the recent structural changes made by the Maranello senior management, following the disappointing start to the 2023 Formula 1 campaign. The Italian side has collected a total of just 26 points after the races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia and it is clear that Ferrari will not be able to challenge Red Bull for the 2023 F1 titles.
Despite the fact that Ferrari chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna seemed very confident before the start of the championship, describing the SF-23 challenger as a car “unprecedented in terms of speed”, the 2023 Ferrari single-seater has not confirmed the high expectations, lacking in both straight-line speed and cornering performance and also suffering from reliability issues.
On the other hand, Red Bull started the season in an impressive manner, taking three race victories, which have earned the Austrian side 123 points and the clear role of favourite for this year’s titles. The Scuderia has not managed to score even a podium finish and can only hope to fight against Mercedes and Aston Martin for second place in the Constructors championship.
With a disappointing four place ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Allard Kalff feels the SF-23 car, the Maranello team, alongside Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, have all fallen short in the 2023 F1 campaign.
Asked about Ferrari’s performance this year, the Viaplay analyst said in an interview for Motorsport.com: “Car not enough, engine not enough, team not enough and drivers not enough. Although Carlos Sainz is the only one who I think performs properly,” he added. “He’s actually doing what I expect him to do, so that’s fine.” – he pointed out.
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On the other hand, Allard Kalff is not impressed with Charles Leclerc following his attempted overtaking move on the Aston Martin car of Lance Stroll, which resulted in the Monegasque driver having to retire on the first lap of the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit: “Charles Leclerc had engine trouble in Bahrain, he couldn’t help it,” Allard Kalff continued. “He then got a grid penalty [in Jeddah], but in Australia he just acted stupid. I thought that was a driver’s mistake.”
In Melbourne, the Monegasque driver had to start the race from seventh place due to a misunderstanding in the final stages of the qualifying session, which meant Charles Leclerc was forced to take more risks in order to gain at least one place as soon as possible. However, the SF-23 car of Charles Leclerc ended up in the gravel.
As for new Ferrari team principal’s activity so far, that too was “not enough”.
“You could give Vasseur the benefit of the doubt,” Allard Kalff continued – “because I don’t really know what to judge him on. It’s also early in the season, of course. You don’t know what he can and can’t do. Can he fire people just like that, and does he have the support of the senior bosses of Ferrari? It is of course a bit of a guess.” – he added.
In addition to this, the Dutch television presenter and racing driver admitted to being surprised by some of the recent personnel changes made by the Maranello senior management, and in other cases their call not to let some people go given the performance seen so far.
Ferrari started the 2022 Formula 1 campain strong, but eventually was not able to mount a title challenge against Red Bull, having to settle for P2 in both championships. The Italian side had the fastest car in the first half of the season, but missed out on several race wins due to power unit technical failures and some questionable strategy calls, especially with Charles Leclerc.
However, the only one who seems to have paid in terms of losing his job is ex-team principal Mattia Binotto. Ferrari did not fire Spanish engineer Inaki Rueda, who was in charge of the race strategies last year, but did move him to a more marginal role from the remote garage in Maranello, as Ravin Jain has been promoted to the role of head of strategy, overseeing the decisions directly at the racetrack each weekend.
“Those who made those decisions are still working there and the boss is gone. That is of course strange. It works like with a football coach: the coach is fired, but the players are not. You can put Vasseur there and then? He doesn’t build that engine. He has to manage people who, so to speak, already started with this year’s engine last April. What can you do if you don’t walk in until January 9?” – the Viaplay analyst pointed out – “A lot of people would start again, but I don’t know who exactly you have to throw out either. Whether that is the solution, I don’t know either. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but the fact that people have to leave is beyond dispute for me, because otherwise you will do the same thing and hope for a different result.” – he concluded.
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