Lack of understanding about Ferrari's malpractice: 'What went wrong there, then?'

F1 News

1 September 2020 at 06:52
  • GPblog.com

The Belgian Grand Prix will go down in history at Ferrari like a black page. Zero points and even an Alfa Romeo that was faster. The problems hardly seem to get any bigger in Maranello.

Ferrari goes through a deep valley

''This was absolutely outrageous," says Kees van de Grint at RTL GP Slipstream. ''I don't even know how long it's been back that we've seen this, but it looks like it's getting worse. It is still not clear what happened last year, but they went like an arrow. How can they be so slow now and just keep turning around'', asks Bridgestone's former tyre expert.

''Normally Kimi Raikkonen only sees that car when he is put on a lap. It's so strange, because in 2018 Ferrari competed for the world title, in early 2019 they competed and at the end of 2019 they seemed to have found the light. Of course we know what happened, but they are not at the level of early 2019 either. What on earth has gone wrong there?''

Blunders at Ferrari

With the latter, Van de Grint touches on an important pain point. Of course, Ferrari no longer has the possible illegal engine at its disposal, but the fact that it is now even slower than an Alfa Romeo is, of course, the other extreme. Ferrari has been involved in this fast engine for years and now they are suddenly dropping out.

''Ferrari just belonged to it a year and a half ago. Then they find extra power which they are no longer allowed to use now and suddenly they are so incredibly slow. Then blunders are just made. I don't like to point at individuals, but Pat Fry, for example, has left and since he joined Renault things have been going better there'', concludes Van de Grint.