How did Ferrari lose out to Red Bull in 2022 F1 championship? Former driver provides reasons

F1 Grand Prix of Brazil
Charles Leclerc driving the (#16) Ferrari F1-75 makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 13, 2022, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer highlighted some of the areas where Ferrari floundered as compared to Red Bull, and hence the reasons they lost in the championship battle despite having the potential to win. He, however, did acknowledge the pace that the Scuderia cars had, stating how Charles Leclerc was potentially the fastest.

He told Formula1.com:

“Ferrari looked like they had the fastest car and the qualifying pace shows Leclerc was the fastest driver."

The Scuderia looked extremely likely to win the championship in the initial stages of the season. As the races went by, however, Max Verstappen took the lead in his Red Bull against Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. By the time the first half of the season was over, many believed that the title was out of the team's hands.

The reasons Palmer gave for the Scuderia's loss are somewhat similar to what everyone else has been reasoning. He stated that the key reason for the poor result was the race pace, saying:

“So with the fastest car, how did Ferrari not do a much better job? A number of reasons, but the key one was race pace.”

He stated that although the start of the season was looking in the hands of the Scuderia, they couldn't keep up with Red Bull's development as the pace they had 'just drifted off' later in the season. He said:

“Ferrari started with actually really strong pace in the early rounds but just drifted off as the season went on.”

Palmer believes Ferrari's strategy is largely to blame after the race pace

It is evident that the Scuderia strategists made some of the gravest mistakes throughout the length of the season. Charles Leclerc struggled a lot during many races as Red Bull handled their stops better. Mistakes at Monaco and Silverstone proved crucial and became a reason for the team's loss.

Jolyon Palmer stated:

“So many grand prix wins down to strategy with a very fast car admittedly, but that’s where Ferrari all too often were making some critical mistakes.”

He also highlighted the exact errors the team made in Monaco and Great Britain, saying:

“In Monaco, a front-row lockout for Leclerc and [Carlos] Sainz and they couldn’t convert it to a win. [At] Silverstone, the race win got away from Charles Leclerc, who was their main championship challenger at the time.”
“Strategy was clearly an area of weakness for Ferrari in a season when they should really have been so much closer than they were.”

Other than the two very obvious reasons, Palmer also talked about the reliability of the car since many of the races turned out to be without points for that reason. He remarked that in all of the race retirements, drivers are less to blame in contrast to the car's failures.

Poor performances and pressure from the team have forced team principal Mattia Binotto to resign. He worked with the team for 28 years and his loss was detrimental to the team. The Scuderia is reportedly looking for a new team principal now.

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Edited by Anurag C