To succeed in F1, one of the most important things is synergy. A great driver in a poor team is not a good combination, neither is a poor driver in a top team. However, what is a great combination is a top driver driving for a top team, a solid driver driving in the midfield, and so on.
The F1 grid, more often than not, tends to sort itself out this way, but there are always a few missing pieces even when this happens. There is always a driver that should be in a better team than where he finds himself at the moment because, in his current team, he's unable to get the results that his drives deserve.
In simple words, the driver is limited by the machinery at his disposal and that is never a good thing. Even on the current F1 grid, there are drivers whose synergy with the teams just doesn't work and they need to change their teams whenever they get the chance. Who are these drivers that we're talking about? Well, let's take a look!
#1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
The crash at Paul Ricard was almost like a deja vu moment for fans who have been watching the sport for a while. A Ferrari driver trying to push a tad too much because he does not have confidence in the strategy. In the end, the Ferrari driver, under enormous pressure, breaks and makes a mistake. That mistake sends him into the wall and cost him a chance to win the race.
Many fans have seen this story play out earlier as well just a few years back with Sebastian Vettel at the helm. The German loved Ferrari and was desperate to succeed with the Italian squad. However, the constant shortcomings, the politics, as well as the inability to maintain the level at which Mercedes were performing left Vettel with too much to do.
The peerless Vettel, who was a juggernaut at Red Bull, was gone and the new one was just not reliable. The stint at Ferrari destroyed Vettel mentally and it took him almost a year to recover from that. Charles Leclerc was on the same boat last F1 season.
The constant pitfalls, the strategic errors, the reliability issues, and the team's inability to own up to its mistakes left Leclerc very vulnerable. Fortunately for Vettel, he already had four titles in the bag when he joined Ferrari, so his legacy was already carved. Leclerc does not have that privilege. To be fair, he's yet to even properly compete in a title battle.
When it comes to fighting for titles, it's safe to say that in the last 15 or so years, Ferrari is not the team that you should be with. The Italian squad is a revolving door for top drivers and team principals and if drivers like Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, and Vettel cannot produce sustained success for the team then it's tough to see how Leclerc would do that.
Charles Leclerc needs to pack his bags and start looking around because Ferrari is not where you win titles these days.
#2 Lando Norris (McLaren F1)
Lando Norris is one of the more under-appreciated talents in F1. Having said that, it's safe to say that he's also at fault for that. The driver, according to Christian Horner, has been approached multiple times by Red Bull but has instead opted to sign extensions with McLaren.
Now, this was something that made some sense in 2021 when it did appear that McLaren were on an upward trajectory. However, the 2022 F1 season has opened up new speculation around McLaren and where the team's ceiling is. The top teams on the F1 grid have been working hard to create the entire structure around their respective drivers. Red Bull have been doing that with Max Verstappen, Ferrari with Charles Leclerc and Mercedes did that with Lewis Hamilton.
The issue with Norris trying to achieve the same synergy with McLaren is that the team's ceiling is still unknown. There is a lack of clarity over how much progress the team could make in the pecking order. For now, though, Norris, easily one of the top five drivers on the grid, will need to decide whether McLaren can deliver him what it has not delivered in the last decade, an F1 championship challenger.
#3 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Yes, we agree that this is a bit premature but hear us out! Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin are a combination destined not only for failure but for violent immolation. If we are blunt about Aston Martin, then Lawrence Stroll bought a team that was finishing fourth/fifth in the F1 championship while it was severely short on funds and turned it into a team that has no shortage of funds but a complete lack of synergy.
If we ignore the 2020 F1 season where the team essentially ran a year-old Mercedes, there's not much to show for it in terms of results. The signings have been high profile and from winners like Red Bull and Mercedes, but in terms of results, there's not much to see there. On the other hand, the operational side of the team is a complete disaster. Lance Stroll occupies one of the seats because this is basically his team and the strategic unit was woeful last season in its race execution.
The final nail in the straw is the volatile nature of Lawrence Stroll and Alonso. While the team had a four-time World Champion in Sebastian Vettel who didn't complain much to the media and knuckled down even if the conditions weren't optimum, Alonso is not going to do that.
Alonso doesn't let mediocrity fly in the F1 team he is a part of and sometimes his conduct can polarize the team. At Aston Martin, a team that has a history of under-delivering, we are looking at a partnership that's destined to combust.
For Alonso, a driver on the last leg of his F1 career, Aston Martin is not the team he should be looking to associate with and a move somewhere else is surely advisable for the Spanish F1 legend.
