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Pretty much all the races this year have left us in shock of Ferrari. As much as we wish that this shock was from something positive, sadly, it was quite the opposite. Fans went "tch, tch" for drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as they suffered the brunt of the team's faults in almost every race.
There was barely any race that went smoothly without either of their drivers landing in trouble, losing positions, or not finishing the race. It has become a theme, with the Scuderia reaching a new low this season.
Beyond a doubt, the Tifosi hearts have shattered once again as their once tyrannical team became the laughingstock for everyone this year.
The Italian team has not just lost to Red Bull, but they were no competition for them this year and might lose out their P2 to Mercedes too very soon. This article will take a look at all the pointers that Ferrari needs to improve, taking this year as a lesson if they are to ever rule again.
Note: This article contains the author's opinions.
Lesson that Ferrari needs to learn
#5 Embibe teachings from the past
Scuderia has looked very lousy and lazy in the past. This Ferrari and the Ferrari from Michael Schumacher's days seem poles apart. That 2000-2004 team looked immensely challenging, full of hunger and had the zeal to win back-to-back titles.
2022's Ferrari on the other hand, have remained content with their faults and drawbacks. The team never seems to learn from past mistakes, but in fact find new ways to top the old ones.
Since their downfall at Imola, the team seems to be losing confidence consistently and never looked hungry enough to fight back against the Bulls. Going by the words of Mattia Binotto, the team seems to be doing nothing wrong and rarely accepts mistakes.
#4 Mattia Binotto's delusional leadership at Ferrari
The Swiss team principal is possibly under pressure of getting sacked after the way Ferrari has conducted itself this year. With all honesty, despite having a championship-winning car on his hands, the engineer failed to create a competitive unit.
What separates him from the likes of Christian Horner and Toto Wolff is the fact that he has no accountability for things.
He stated:
“I don’t think there is anything different we need to do...As we said, there are no silver bullets, so I don’t think we need to change ourselves. We have proved we can do a good job."
This is proof enough that Binotto doesn't necessarily find anything wrong with the fundamentals of the team, while many would disagree.
#3 Reliability
Plagued with numerous problems already, oftentimes their drivers have lost out on races due to mechanical issues this season. Ferrari's power units have been a big issue to the point where customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo F1 have also suffered DNFs in various races.
Big teams either improve themselves or rarely ever face mechanical issues. Despite developing a fast car in F1-75 everything was spoiled when Leclerc DNF'd from the Spanish GP and the last nail was when Sainz's car caught fire, engulfing him dangerously during the 2022 Austrian GP.
The likes of Mercedes and Red Bull rarely face such issues. And even if they do (like Red Bull), they make it a point to make a comeback even more strongly.
#2 No consistency with performances
To be a winning team in F1, consistency is key. The likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell have consistently performed at the highest level this year. While Verstappen has mostly won, he's been on the podium for other races. For Russell, he maintained a top 5 finish till now, the only thing his car allowed.
For Ferrari, though, team calls are largely to blame as there are no fixed positions for Sainz or Leclerc to finish at. They rarely win, or by the final laps lose 3-4 positions to end P6,P7 and sometimes they don't finish the race at all.
There is no consistency with the team's performances costing Leclerc essential points as he lost out on important podium places and stands 100+ points behind Verstappen now. If not for a race win, at the very least the team could've worked to keep him on the podium. But there was no consistency involved.
#1 Catastrophic Team calls
This segment needs no explanation for all the fans who have watched this season's races. Ferrari handled the races extremely immaturely, to say the very least, and it almost looked like they were playing around sometimes.
It is safe to say that all those decisions have more than once thrown away Leclerc's lead, ultimately costing him the championship.
Here is what Nico Rosberg had to say regarding the Scuderia:
"Mattia Binotto keeps saying, 'no, no we don't need to make any changes, everything is going well. I mean when is the day coming? It's not possible. Even Formula 2 teams or Formula 3 teams do a better job at their strategy and pit stops than Ferrari."
Rosberg is not wrong, and if Ferrari is to make themselves number 1 again, a lot needs to change. This change might need to begin from a leadership point of view itself.
