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Last weekend’s French F1 Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit was a race of errors for Scuderia Ferrari.
Despite Charles Leclercs’ pole position on Saturday, his team-mate Carlos Sainz qualified 19th following penalties due to mechanical replacements, leaving the F1 pole sitter alone in his battle for the lead with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Leclerc led from the start and began stamping his authority in the early phase of the race, starting to pull away from Verstappen despite the Dutchman’s efforts to grab the lead.
As Verstappen took an early pit stop, Leclerc inexplicably lost the back end of the Ferrari at turn 11 and crashed into the tyre barrier; strange, as he was not under pressure at that point. His radio call indicated the accelerator, as experienced during the Austrian F1 Grand Prix, but later he admitted it was driver error.
Costly F1 indecision
Sainz carved his way through the field, but an unsafe release following his pit stop resulted in a five-second penalty. Undeterred, he pushed hard, closing on the leaders while his pit wall constantly argued tyre choice with him. It was as if no one in the Ferrari garage was making decisions.
The unsafe release was ridiculously close to a pit lane collision with the Williams of Alex Albon, a definite error from the Maranello F1 team.
Sainz, on medium tyres, had caught the leaders and was challenging Perez for third. As he was passing the Mexican, his engineer, who did not think the tyres would stay the distance ardently, instructed him to “box, box, box”.
Was no one in the Ferrari F1 stable watching the television monitors? He pitted and lost position, all due to lack of teamwork and indecision.
Consolation prize
Sainz finished fifth and was voted Driver of the Day, but it could have been a podium for the Spaniard.
Following the race, Sainz confirmed his confidence in Ferrari’s strategy – after all those issues, he really is pushing that No 1 driver slot.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Leclerc error hands French Grand Prix win to Verstappen
A double podium finish for the Mercedes team with the W13 – a very improved car. But what I find fascinating, after all the innuendoes regarding the legality of certain F1 teams and flexible floors, was the apparent lack of porpoising and bouncing shown by the Silver Arrows, the car which suffered most, apparently endangering their drivers’ health.
What problem?
We are aware the Brackley team has brought updates to the party, but still no mention has been made of the engineering that appears to have cured the problem.
If one looks at the amount of bickering between Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner, it makes you wonder if it is perhaps a great script for another series of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.
The FIA is planning new regulations to prevent this issue raising its head again, including a rethink on the aerodynamics for next season.
What, with proposed changes to the monocoque to have a stronger roll hoop mounting, it could be an expensive set of upgrades and a possible budget cap review.
The show now moves to the Hungaroring for the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix on 31 July.
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