'Ferrari still has the faster car despite being 200 points behind'
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing started the 2022 Formula 1 season behind, but managed to turn it around and win the constructors' title with a gap of over 200 points to Ferrari. Karun Chandhok finds it hard to comprehend how hard it has gone downhill for the Italian racing stable, which still has the fastest car, according to the analyst.
According to Chandhok, last season was "somewhat flattered". "We started off with very high expectations of a Ferrari versus Red Bull battle going all the way to Abu Dhabi," said the former F1 driver in conversation with Betway. He recalls Ferrari's strong weekend in Melbourne, where Red Bull actually disappointed.
'Ferrari still has the faster car'
"We all thought it was going to be quite hard for Red Bull to recover. They were over 40 points behind at that point," Chandhok continued. However, the following weekend in Imola marked a turning point for the Austrian team, while for Ferrari the setbacks began.
"Ferrari have just underperformed. They've not maximised the potential of their car, which is a frustrating thing, because they’ve actually got a very fast car," the analyst continued. Chandhok concludes based on the speed during dry qualifying that Ferrari had the faster car throughout the season. "Even as of now, the Ferrari is the faster car, yet they are nearly 200 points behind in the championship."
Much of this, according to Chandhok, is due to a spate of mistakes and setbacks during the season. For instance, they missed the mark on strategy several times and Charles Leclerc made a costly mistake in the French GP. In addition, the team faced reliability problems and grid penalties.