Painful conclusions for Ferrari: team is in worse shape than in 2020
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Ferrari is having a dramatic start to the 2023 season. Charles Leclerc retired twice in three races and in Australia no points were scored at all as Carlos Sainz also received a time penalty. Moreover, the speed in the Ferrari does not seem to be as good as hoped either.
In Bahrain, it became clear that the Ferrari, was no longer the second team behind Red Bull Racing as it was in 2022. Although the team was lying third with Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin was much faster than the Monegasque. We did not get to see a real fight for the final podium position in Bahrain as the Monegasque retired with an engine problem. In Saudi Arabia, too, the SF-23's speed seemed far off. In Australia, the speed seemed better, but the team still failed to take any points.
Worse than in 2020
After three races, Ferrari is fourth in the constructors' championship with 26 points. Of these, Sainz scored 20 and Leclerc just six. This season start for Ferrari is worse than the 2020 season start, which was a disaster year for the Scuderia. Indeed, in 2020, the Italian team had 27 points after three races.
2020 was a dramatic year for Ferrari. The team finished sixth in the constructors' championship. In 2019, Ferrari had a tremendously fast engine, but it turned out to be not quite legal. As a result, the team had to modify the engine for 2020 and lost a lot of horsepower. At the time, Leclerc was also driving for the Italian team, but four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was still his teammate.