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Column | Ferrari will finish 3rd in a two horse race for the 2022 F1 title
The mistakes are piling high for Ferrari this year. It's almost as if they are doing all they can to stop themselves from winning the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship. Something always goes wrong during the race and usually that focus is on the strategy department. It's time for heads to roll on the pit wall, or at the very least introduce someone from the outside to instil something different.
The build-up to the weekend demonstrated that Ferrari's high downforce took extra life out of their tyres compared to the set-up Red Bull introduced for the race. The opening stint of the race saw Leclerc and Verstappen go nose to tail for a series of laps. It looked as though Leclerc was a sitting duck given Red Bull's straight-line speed, but the Ferrari's strength in the corner was good enough to allow him to weather the initial storm.
Just as the balance started to tip in favour of Leclerc, the man from Monaco ended up in the wall with zero championship points. Verstappen didn't drive away into the distance but had the rest of the Grand Prix under control. But as always, after Leclerc's crash things started to spiral out of control for Ferrari. First, they had a pitstop mistake and had to hold the car longer than was needed as the front right tyre needed some extra work. Then, they turned the pit light green only for Sainz to almost crash into another car coming down the pitlane.
Sainz picked up a five-second penalty for this, and some will argue the penalty is extremely light given the close proximity to the McLaren mechanic in the next pit box. And to top it all off, Sainz moved into P3 and looked comfortable holding onto the podium place. Yet Ferrari, following an argument, decided to pit Sainz and walk away with fifth place. Mercedes are just 44 points behind in the championship. Ferrari are in danger of finishing third in a two-horse race.
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Binotto's reaction
Team boss Mattia Binotto's reaction to all this was very surprising. In an interview with Sky Sports, Binotto started off by saying: "It didn't go to plan, but I think we had a good performance in tyre management and tyre degradation on the Red Bull." And then regarding the late Sainz pitstop: "We don't feel it is the right choice, we are pretty sure it was the right choice."
All said in a very calm matter. There was no indication during the interview that Ferrari even 'might've' made a mistake with the strategy. At the very least, surely you want to do a deep debrief and analysis on the situation to check.
Now can you imagine Toto Wolff turning up on Sky Sports and being so relaxed after a race where you crashed out of the lead and potentially lost a podium place due to a possible strategy mistake? Where you lost significant ground to Red Bull and Verstappen in the Championship? Wolff would be glowing red, with steam coming out of his ears. Sky Sports would be forced to apologise for the bad language, and every article about the subject would contain some asterisks to cover up the swear words.
Okay, it's understandable that different team bosses have different personalities and ways of managing on camera. Particularly when we're talking about different nationalities. Perhaps Wolff is on the other side of the scale, but the point remains. Binotto needs to show a little bit of backbone and passion with a degree of honesty. He should be questioning whether or not Ferrari got the decision correct to pit Sainz. And surely the Tiffosi would like to see some frustration with Leclerc's mistake?
Binotto isn't one on the pit wall whose head should roll. He's been pivotal in Ferrari's recovery, but he needs to change his approach.
Plan A-Z
One of Formula 1's golden rules for the strategy team is to be best prepared for all eventualities. However, you can do all the computer simulations that you want, but you never quite know how the weather will be, how the degradation will be, and when the safety cars (and VSCs) will be rolled out. It's important to be prepared to think on your feet.
Not for the first time during a Grand Prix this year, we heard a Ferrari radio message signalling "Plan D" and earlier in the season "Plan E". How many plans do they have? There are so many listed plans, that it probably becomes hard for everyone to remember which is which. And goodness knows how Sainz remembers them out on the circuit. Perhaps he has a sticker listing all plans inside the cockpit.
And again, not for the first time this season we heard Ferrari strategies argue on the radio with the driver about what to do. The show from Ferrari was so amateurish that they were talking to Sainz and asking him questions whilst he was in the middle of a wheel-to-wheel fight. Let the driver focus on the task at hand. The indecision was painful to hear for the fans, let alone Sainz in the cockpit.
Opinion
Strategy mistakes seem to be so ingrained in the Ferrari team that they've lost all confidence in making the big decisions. Nobody on the Ferrari pit wall seems to have the confidence to make such a big decision. It's almost as if they feel it will go wrong. And that is the main reason as to why heads need to roll, or at the very least bring someone from the outside in. The mistakes are piling up and they are driving themselves out of the World Championship fight. Ferrari didn't get everything wrong this weekend. Their tactics to use the tow in qualifying was a well-kept secret and allowed Leclerc to secure pole. But you can't ignore the big streak of issues.
Of course, strategy isn't the only thing that cost Ferrari in France. Leclerc knows more than anyone else that he needs to take a long hard look at himself. These little small crashes have been synonymous during his F1 career. Reliability is a huge factor and that is very troublesome. Throughout the rest of the year, they will be taking various penalties.
It's best to sort out these problems now. In Football, you often hear the talk being about getting new coaches in early to give them a full pre-season with the squad. That's exactly what Ferrari need to do before next year. With a quality engine and a good car design philosophy, they are in a position to win multiple World Championships between 2023 and 2025.
Get an experienced strategist in, allow them to see what's going wrong and make the required changes for the 2023 season. They may also recover some ground in 2022 because they are at risk of finishing third in a two-horse race for the Constructors Championship.