"It was Ferrari shooting themselves"- Here’s how Prancing Horse is responsible for Max Verstappen's 2022 F1 title

Former F1 driver Damon Hill called Ferrari's 2022 performance "lamentable" after the Scuderia failed to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The Dutchman has already picked up his second World Drivers' Championship while Red Bull is expected to win the Constructors' title soon.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, the former world champion was disappointed with The Prancing Horse. He claimed:

"I think it's very difficult to actually decide whether or not it's Red Bull and Max's brilliance this season and almost perfect performance, or whether it was Ferrari shooting themselves in the foot."

Damon Hill continued:

"It was a lamentable at times performance from them because they showed so much promise at the beginning. Between team strategy and a few driver errors, they're basically lacking the ability to move forward with the car."

The former driver was, however, impressed with the way Verstappen managed the whole season. He also pointed out Ferrari's car problems and said:

"If you took Max out the equation, you could say: 'Okay, well that's the difference,' but Max was 20 seconds ahead of Charles and Sergio in Japan in the wet after 20 laps. It was a second a lap quicker and Ferrari just couldn't play with that at all. They were done by that and Charles's tires were routed. That indicates that their setup is not working the tires the way that Red Bull are, so they couldn't provide a challenge."

Verstappen barely faced any challenge from the Italian outfit post a shaky start to the season. The Maranello-based team would crumble under pressure, making costly mistakes. Many would agree that despite producing a championship worthy car, the Italian camp was not championship ready.

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Verstappen's manager points at Ferrari's F1-75 issues that cost Leclerc his title

Max Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen feels that the F1-75 was not an easy drive. The Dutch manager was sympathetic to Charlec Leclerc's appalling year with the Scuderia.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, he backed Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and held the team's issues responsible:

"A lot of the mistakes that happened to both Ferrari drivers was because they seem to have quite a loose rear, that's a little bit unpredictable. And then obviously, if you're already a little bit on the backfoot, you push that just extra couple of percent more, and you're driving closer at the limit, then it's obviously easy to make a mistake."

Vermeulen also revealed that he sees Leclerc as a future world champion, and that he has the 'right package'. The Scuderia driver currently stands third in the World Drivers' Championship standings and will look forward to finishing the season in P2.