Opinion: Ferrari needs to wake up before Charles Leclerc leaves its stables

At the 2022 F1 French GP, Charles Leclerc admitted that his crash was completely his fault. This has put him 63 points behind in a championship campaign in which he was leading by more than 40 points after the first three races. It's hard to believe now, isn't it? That, however, has been the story of Ferrari after it seemingly peaked in the third race of the season.

12 races later, a few things seem to be true when it comes to the championship. Max Verstappen is running away with the title and Ferrari as a team is not operating at the same level as Red Bull. With Leclerc crashing out at Circuit Paul Ricard, it appears that a title triumph is not even something that the team can attempt right now. More importantly, however, it has brought forward the possibility that the team might not have even imagined when it signed the young Monegasque on a long-term contract.

The 2022 F1 championship campaign has been one of heartbreak week in and week out for Charles Leclerc. It started with the DNF in Barcelona, then came the strategic disaster in Monaco, what followed was another DNF in Baku, and then to cap it all off, we finally had the gross mishandling of Leclerc's race in Silverstone.

Sure, Leclerc has not been faultless either as he spun at Imola and then crashed out in France. One of the key takeaways from the race in France, however, was not only Leclerc's crash, but it was Ferrari once again innocuously messing up his teammate Carlos Sainz's race. This was another instance of the team again showing a clear lack of racing IQ, which is of utmost importance in a championship fight.

Charles Leclerc is a bright young driver and he knows he messed up at Circuit Paul Ricard. The way this season has panned out, however, along with the eerie similarities to Sebastian Vettel's failed campaigns, he will be feeling uneasy at Ferrari.

The Italian squad, on its part, needs to wake up and make amends before the team officially calls time on what would be the third failed driver partnership since Kimi Raikkonen won the drivers' title in 2007.

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Ferrari hasn't won anything since 2008

The Scuderia last won the drivers' title with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. Since then, the team has established partnerships in the last decade with successful multiple world champions like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel but has always come up short.

Since the 2008 F1 season, when Ferrari was the constructors' champion, the team has had a continuous dry run!

Fernando Alonso became a part of the team in 2010. He almost won the title that year but lost out in the last race. The Spaniard then pulled off arguably one of the best seasons in the history of the sport in a mediocre car in 2012 only to fall short once again in the last race. The partnership ended in 2014 after Ferrari produced another mediocre car that year and could not adapt to the new regulations.

Alonso was replaced by Sebastian Vettel, who aimed to emulate his childhood hero Michael Schumacher. Vettel had two failed campaigns in 2017 and 2018 before he ran out of favor at the end of the 2020 F1 season. Right now, in the 2022 F1 season, the team has Charles Leclerc as the star driver in the middle of a disastrous F1 championship campaign.

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Same mistakes, different lead drivers!

Not winning a championship would not have been worrisome for Charles Leclerc if it was not for the way Ferrari is losing this season. Why? Because there are clear parallels that could be drawn to the Scuderia's failed campaigns in the last decade.

The team has shown that nervousness when needing to perform under pressure. That was the case when Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel drove for the Italian outfit. With Charles Leclerc, it is now far too evident. One could even make an argument that Ferrari's race IQ and strategy paralysis have only gotten worse since Alonso drove for the team.

The Prancing Horse was arguably comparable to the frontrunners when Alonso was there. It got worse when Vettel joined the team. A case in point is the 2018 F1 Italian GP when Vettel-Raikkonen tried to fight for the lead. Or the 2018 F1 German GP where Vettel lost a chunk of time behind Raikkonen before crashing out. With Charles Leclerc in the team, its indecisiveness is one of the worst in the paddock.

The Scuderia can have a strong car, but if it continues to squander opportunities, especially in a championship with Red Bull as its competitor, it cannot win titles until it enjoys a significant advantage in terms of car performance. One of the biggest things that could make Leclerc press the panic button is the lack of team growth when it comes to race IQ.

As a driver, you need to have confidence in the team's strategy calls and they should not leave you in two minds. With the kind of strategic mishaps that have taken place, Leclerc is arguably going through the same phase that Vettel did late in his Ferrari partnership when he would second-guess every move the team made.

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If Charles Leclerc leaves, can Ferrari save face?

When it comes to Ferrari, there is a sense of arrogance that can be attached to the way the team operates. Having said that, the Italian squad might need to wake up and smell the coffee. Three proven top talents on the grid in Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, and Charles Leclerc have devoted a chunk of their careers to the Prancing Horse in the last 15 years.

Neither of the three drivers, however, has a title triumph to show for it. At some point, the team needs to look within. If Charles Leclerc, one of the brightest talents on the grid, packs his bags and leaves the team, that would be a damning verdict for Ferrari. (Q: Where could Charles Leclerc go if he leaves Ferrari? Click Here to find out.)

Can Ferrari afford another failed driver partnership? The answer is no! It cannot. If the Monegasque leaves, who will Ferrari sign? Rather, the question is why would any top driver want to sign with Ferrari?

If he does leave the team, then in the last 15 years, a four-time world champion in Sebastian Vettel, a two-time world champion in Fernando Alonso, and a generational talent in Charles Leclerc would have failed to win the title at Ferrari. Will any top driver still want to risk it? He might, but it won't be a wise choice by any means.

Ferrari needs to wake up and understand the criticality of the situation because if it does not, the team could lose the enviable position of being one of the most sought-after seats on the F1 grid.