There were plenty of incidents, errors, decisions and poor performances that contributed to Leclerc going from being 46 points clear of Verstappen after just three races to being 114 behind him with four races still to go. But if it’s Paul Ricard in June that cemented the end of the title battle in Verstappen’s mind, why did Ferrari suddenly collapse once it entered the Summer Break?
It really began to look very scratchy quite early, even when the car was still super-quick relative to the Red Bull.
That Spain, Monaco, Azerbaijan sequence of blown power unit, bad strategy call, blown power unit just as Red Bull was beginning to get into its stride made it feel like Ferrari was just too wobbly to be a real title contender.
Even in Austria where Leclerc overtook Verstappen 3 times during the feature race, they were doubts at the Ferrari pit crew whatever or not the car would even make it to the end especially we seen Sainz retiring due to an engine blowout
Redbull outsmart Ferrari
Ferrari only has itself to blame for throwing away what seemed like a certain victory in the Monaco Grand Prix after turning a one-two in the early stages into second and fourth place for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Leclerc didn’t even finish on the podium having started from pole position and then led the first 17 laps, thanks to two strategic errors by the Ferrari pitwall.
By the time we reached Spa Verstappen had an 80-point lead over Leclerc and proved that gap with a dominant race win at the venue where as Leclerc finished a lonely 6th place. To many F1 pundits this really spelt the end of Ferrari’s title challenge in both drivers and constructors respectively.
Can they redeem themselves in 2023?
Maybe the massive step Ferrari has made with its car, the strength of its driver line up has given it just what it needed, wins. Now the team has to re-establish its own belief it can fight at the front secure in the knowledge that its car is pretty good. Wins are a massive step forward but give them a chance.
Ferrari had a car capable of fighting for the championship, but with the lack of sharpness meant that throughout the season they were out-manoeuvred by Red Bull.
