Scuderia Ferrari is under new management as of the start of the 2023 racing season, with Frederic Vasseur taking the position of team principle as a replacement for Mattia Binotto. Only two races into the season, it appears that Ferrari have fallen further behind Red Bull, according to Skysports.
With Ferrari having star drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in their line-up, many believe that a World Championship should be inevitable for this F1 team. Matt Gallagher, co-host of P1 voiced his opinion on Charles Leclerc, stating, “I believe it is a question of when rather than if the 25-year-old wins a championship.” It is clear that among the Formula 1 community, doubts for Ferraris ability to win a championship do not lie within their opinions on drivers ability.
With Binotto’s reign leading to “a very fast car that was a match- at least in terms of pure race- for Red Bull in the first half of the season,” however the unfortunate loss of the championship was “a combination of poor reliability and strategic errors that would see Charles Leclerc lose touch with Max Verstappen.” These factors combined led to Binotto being removed as the team principle at the end of the 2022 season.
Under new management, the hope is that Vasseur would implement a level of discipline required to mount a sustained challenge, with Vasseur stating that “ending the team’s 15-yead drivers’ championship drought was his immediate target.” However, as of the start of the 2023 season, Vasseur was left baffled by the criticism levelled at Ferrari after the first Grand Prix, stating that “the team know what went wrong in Bahrain and it is nothing that can’t be improved.”
Over the Winter break, Ferrari’s main focus was to make their 2023 car reliable, due to reliability being identified as a significant issue in 2022 with each driver twice retiring from races during the first half of the season. However, during the first race of the 2023 season Leclerc was forced to retire due to an issue with the cars control electronics unit. “The issue we had in Bahrain was unexpected because it was the first time we had a control unit failure and it’s why we changed the engine for today just to be sure that we are starting from a clean sheet,” stated Vasseur. However, considering that the result in Saudi Arabia two weeks later was “verging on disastrous”, with the Ferraris finishing in 6th and 7th position, behind both Mercedes, Redbull and Fernando Alonso in an Aston Martin, many are questioning the reliability of the SF-23.
These factors have led to little belief in Ferrari’s competitiveness for the 2023 season, with former F1 driver, Ralf Schumacher saying “he doesn’t believe Ferrari can fight for this years title,” alongside former McLaren employee, Jo Ramirez stating “there is always something wrong with Ferrari.”
By Tillie, Yr12
Carre’s Grammar School, Sleaford
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Wow Tillie this is just amazing😍😍