Why Ferrari strategy is bad this season
By Noor Al-Hai
KUWAIT: Formula One is one of the most prestigious motor racing competitions. Ferrari, a luxury brand known for its incredible speed and dignified ostentatiousness, has two young drivers with the best-designed F1 car. However, it seems that Ferrari isn’t always making the best decisions for their drivers, especially during the race, when each second that passes affects the drivers’ standing in the race.
There are many reasons why Ferrari might not win the championship this year. Car reviewer Abdulrazzaq Jamal, who is a successful Kuwaiti content creator and Formula Oneexpert, told Kuwait Times that the Ferrari strategy is laughable and it is very hard for them to win, because the Red Bull car is way faster than the Ferrari car.
“Charles Leclerc is an amazing driver – if only he had the Red Bull car, nobody would come close, but Leclerc is not as fast and aggressive as Max Verstappen. To be able to win the championship, Ferrari needs to start from scratch. Removing Mattia Binotto, team principal of Ferrari, is not the solution.They must start changing the team from upward to downward,” Jamal said.
He said Ferrari needs to start changing their upper management first, then the team as a whole. “The Red Bull, an energy drink team, is faster than any car in F1 by taking 60 employees from the Mercedes team, which makes 50 percent of Red Bull’s employees previous employees of the Mercedes team. The pride and arrogance of Ferrari are what made the team fail in Formula One,” Jamal said.
“My prediction for Ferrari is that they will not be a midfield team anymore. Instead, they will be in the lower team like in the 2019 season. In fact, Ferrari only entered Formula One to sell their cars. Ferrari pays less and has more sponsorships than any other team in F1. If you don’t act like the other teams, you won’t succeed,” he noted.
Hamad Marafie, General Manager of Kuwait International Motorsports club, said Ferrari had a wonderful and promising start at the beginning of the season for multiple reasons. One of the most obvious reasons was Charles Leclerc’s hunger and motivation from his longest driver’s contract with Ferrari, in addition to the fastest car on the grid.
He explained to Kuwait Times that Carlos Sainz’s superb performance in Bahrain gave Ferrari great hope they would dominate this season, especially with two Red Bulls out from the first race and the seven-time world champion coming in third place. “With much hope, very promising cars and most importantly two amazing drivers, it is almost certain that this season belonged to them.
Unfortunately, the Red Bulls jumped back in the game with qualifying times and race results in the second race. After the fifth race, Ferrari began losing hope, especially in Monaco, when Ferrari’s strategies started to seem out. The last two races showed us fans that Formula One is a true team-based sport,”Marafie said. “Even if you have the fastest cars on the grid as well as two phenomenal drivers, you will not win the championship or a race without a great strategy. The 2022 season looks promising for Red Bull in terms of both the driver and constructor’s championship. So far, Red Bull deserves it,” he stressed.
Marafie said while Ferrari had a very good start, it appears that it will have a disappointing and tiring end to the season. “The future is uncertain, but we hope that something will change in Ferrari or that the Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto builds a strategy or sets a plan for the upcoming seasons’ comeback. On the other hand, Red Bull is thriving and the season is theirs.
Nevertheless, another issue for next season is Sir Lewis Hamilton – he is coming for the eighth championship, in addition to all other hungry drivers. Overall, Formula One is a very interesting, fun, competitive and controversial sport. Hopefully, it will continue to be as good as it currently is. I also hope that they will reconsider relinquishing the money cap rule and that Lewis will win his eighth,” he affirmed.
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