Ferrari and their dreadful, abysmal 2022 campaign
Ferrari has thrown away over 100 points this year. They must be questioning whether they can still win the Constructors' Championship.
Hungary was a prime chance for Ferrari to symbolically stick it to Red Bull just before the summer break. They absolutely botched it.
Formula 1’s last three races were disasters for Ferrari.
They lost an easy 1-2 in Austria because an engine blew up; Charles Leclerc crashed himself out from the lead in France; and then, in the final race before the mid-season break, they suddenly had no pace and made an incredibly poor strategy call.
Ferrari started the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2nd and 3rd, but after 70 laps, they could only muster 4th and 6th.
Rather shockingly, Max Verstappen, from 10th, captured the victory - with the two Mercedes drivers rounding off the podium.
“Today’s result is unsatisfactory,” team boss Mattia Binotto said. “We did not perform well.”
Matt Gallagher, the passionate WTF1 presenter and avowed Charles Leclerc fan, put it best.
“Ferrari couldn't hit water if they jumped off a boat,” he wrote on Twitter, in reference to their strange decision to give Charles Leclerc hard tyres - which was not among Pirelli’s recommended strategies.
Ferrari said post-race they were also caught out by significantly cooler air temperatures that their car couldn’t adjust to.
The race was supposed to be an opportunity for Ferrari to put to bed any concerns about their ability to fight for this year’s championship. The circuit suited them and Red Bull were starting down the grid.
But, as we all saw, the opportunity soon disintegrated and Red Bull seized the chance to further increase what looks now to be an insurmountable lead. It stands at 97 points.
That lead has grown so significantly because Ferrari can’t pull together consistent results.
Seemingly during every race, their potential is stymied by either costly unreliability, poor strategy calls, unforced errors or just a sudden, random lack of pace.
Ferrari has now lost in excess of 100 points throughout the first 13 races.
For Charles Leclerc, 25 points went up in smoke for him in both Spain and Azerbaijan, because his engine could not go the distance.
Then, in France, he crashed himself out from the lead all on his own.
Leclerc also threw away 7 points in Imola, when he spun while driving too aggressively. The mistake dropped him from 3rd to 6th.
Now it’s true that in these scenarios points were never guaranteed, but they were certainly a realistic possibility. It’s 82 potential points for Leclerc that became no points whatsoever.
Meanwhile, 18 points slipped through Carlos Sainz’s grasp when his Ferrari engine blew up in Austria - and his retirements in Australia and Imola has limited his points haul too.
Ferrari also has a few of those awful “what if?” scenarios, where maybe they could’ve performed better.
What if Sainz didn’t get called in for that weird second pit stop in France?
What if Leclerc hadn’t been put on the hard tyre in Hungary?
What if Ferrari had pit Leclerc under the safety car in Britain, rather than Sainz?
Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari team boss, said analysing every aspect of the Hungarian Grand Prix would be his “top priority” this week.
Charles Leclerc is Ferrari’s best hope for winning this year’s Drivers’ Championship, but he now sits 80 points behind Max Verstappen.
“We now need to see what we could have done better, recharge our batteries over the break and be ready to fight in the second part of the season,” Leclerc said.