Ferrari’s drivers will be looking to move on from the 2022 season as soon as possible, as Carlos Sainz has experienced the worst luck of his career so far with DNFs, while Charles Leclerc has seen his own team dismantle his title charge.
The Scuderia’s strategy decision have cost their drivers a huge haul of points over the course of the season, with clearly poor decisions such as pitting for the hard tyres in Hungary costing their drivers potential race wins.
It all looked too good to be true for Leclerc in the early stages of the season, as he stormed to multiple race wins as Red Bull and Mercedes faltered, and this turned out to be the case as Max Verstappen won his second world title comfortably.
In a season of many low points, some down to individual errors and some down to mistakes by his team, Leclerc has highlighted the Monaco Grand Prix as his worst moment of the season.
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Over the past two years the Monegasque driver has had tragic luck in his home race, failing to even start in 2021 after qualifying crash after he secured pole position broke his driveshaft, which the team were not able to repair in time.
The 2022 edition of F1’s most famous Grand Prix began in the pouring rain, however when the track began to dry up the majority of drivers made the change from wets to slicks, other than Leclerc.
Ferrari pitted their driver from the lead of the race to change from the wets to the intermediates, before calling him back in to the pits only three laps later to fit the slicks.
This strategy error saw the race leader drop to P4, where he would eventually finish in a race that Leclerc calls his lowest point of the season.
“It was really not easy but Monaco for me, will remain the most painful moment. Another home Grand Prix that didn’t go so well,” said the 25-year-old.
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“Unfortunately something always happens to me in Monaco and this year was no exception.
“Especially because we had managed to do the hardest part well, the start in the rain, but by making the wrong choices, we unfortunately lost the victory.”
The constant mistakes from Ferrari have caused team principal Mattia Binotto to find himself under pressure to keep his job, with rumours suggesting that the Scuderia are on the verge of pulling the trigger and replacing the Swiss, despite a public statement declaring otherwise.