It’s awards season! The time of year when we at GrandPrix247 look back on the 2022 Formula 1 season and choose who gets one of our awards. Our disappointment of the year? Ferrari.
The word “awards” suggests positivity, but unfortunately, this is not a flattering award to be honest, but it has Ferrari written all over it.
Once again Ferrari fell short of delivering its full potential after raising the expectations so high at the start of the season with their F1-75, a good looking Red single seater that was fast out of the blocks.
Such was the speed of the F1-75 at the start of the season that the Tifosi dared to dream of a Title triumph in 2022, we dare say every F1 fan secretly wanted Ferrari to win this year, but it seems Ferrari themselves didn’t want to win…
After years of struggling with slow cars – their last decent car was the 2019 one, infamous for its power unit the FIA found “illegal” in the confidential settlement with Ferrari – the Scuderia unveiled their F1-75 and all indications were that they have nailed it with the new regulations after two years of preparation.
A false dawn
What made matters more encouraging was the fact that Red Bull’s RB18 was not so reliable at the start of the season as Charles Leclerc got the jump on Max Verstappen early on.
But Red Bull soon sorted their car out and made it even faster, while Ferrari on the other hand were back to their old ways of messing up strategies, suffering driver errors. They also had their fair share of reliability problems.
What was worrying that their outgoing boss Mattia Binotto was adamant his team was doing a decent job and always trying to escape forward, but in the end Ferrari were even out-developed by Red Bull and were starting to look over their shoulders as Mercedes – one of the candidates for this award – started to improve after their shocking start of the season with their awful W13.
However Ferrari managed to save face in the end, and Leclerc managed to secure runner up in the Drivers’ Championship behind Verstappen.
What makes matter even more disappointing is that Ferrari had a better chance in 2022 to win the Title because they only needed to fight Red Bull, as Mercedes put themselves out of contention dropping the ball big time with their car.
Ferrari will face sterner competition in 2023
In 2023, Red Bull will build on their momentum from 2022, and there is a big chance Mercedes will get their act together, so Ferrari will be dealing with a double threat next year.
And let’s not forget the upheaval at Maranello with Binotto’s exit and Frederic Vasseur taking his place, which suggests the team’s preparations over winter will be far from ideal.
Even if the team is far into developing the 2023 car, the operational side – already Ferrari’s Achilles’ heel – will no doubt suffer from the management changes as the situation goes towards stability again as we wait and see the new management direction Vasseur sets.
With only four wins for both drivers, 2022 was a huge Ferrari disappointment that might spawn further disappointments in the near future. (Compiled by Jad Mallak)
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