It finally looked as if 2022 would be Ferrari’s year, after coming ever so close to glory with Sebastian Vettel in 2018 and falling further away from Mercedes and Red Bull every year since.
The Scuderia stormed to a one-two victory in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, and kept up their impressive pace for the majority of the season before being comprehensively beaten by Red Bull.
The team had clearly the fastest car for a significant period of the season, but strategy errors and reliability issues often saw Ferrari throw away potential victories, however Carlos Sainz has identified other reasons for his team’s shortcomings.
“We’re going focus on that and come back stronger as a team because we got out-developed by Red Bull and Mercedes and we were not exactly the best at executing races,” he explained.
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“I think if we improve these couple of areas, we can be very strong next year.”
Sainz’s suggestion that Ferrari were out developed by their rivals can be seen in the team’s recent results, with Mercedes bring significant upgrades to the Austin Grand Prix and having better pace than the Scuderia ever since.
The Spaniard endured a turbulent 2022 season, picking up his first win in Silverstone but also being forced to retire from multiple races due to factors out of his control.
Sainz was hit out of the race in Imola and Austin by Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell respectively, while his car caught fire at the Red Bull Ring in Austria as his bad luck continued.
The 28-year-old’s claims that his team are not the best at executing races is something that has been in plain sight for F1 fans all season, with many left scratching their heads as Ferrari continued to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again.
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Ferrari made the wrong tyre choice during a pit stop in Hungary, and they pitted Charles Leclerc for the fastest lap in Spa which saw him eventually lose a position to Fernando Alonso.
Team principal Mattia Binotto has told reporters that he is happy with how Ferrari have performed in 2022, claiming that it was never their aim to challenge for the title in the first year of the new regulations.
With Red Bull feeling the effects of their cost cap punishment next year, 2023 could present the best chance yet for the Scuderia to return to their title winning ways.