Ferrari’s season is quickly dwindling into one where they’ll be asking themselves “what could’ve been”, after a double DNF at the Azerbaijan GP saw the Italian team fall 80 points behind Red Bull Racing.
The team have got a mountain to climb, not only to catch Red Bull but also to keep the incredibly reliable Mercedes F1 Team behind.
Mercedes are within touching distance of Ferrari, despite having not won a single race this season.
After such a dominant start to the season where Charles Leclerc won two of the opening three races, the Scuderia haven’t won since.
Leclerc’s championship hopes are also hanging by a thread, after two PU failures whilst leading two of the last three races, has seen the Monegasque driver fall 34 points behind rival Max Verstappen.
Ferrari released a statement regarding Leclerc’s engine earlier this week.
“Charles’ engine arrives at the factory tomorrow and a first assessment should be completed by the evening,” Ferrari revealed.
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Questions are already being asked as to whether this weekend’s Canadian GP is a ‘must win’ for Ferrari, with penalties all but certain to come their way later in the year.
Another retirement for Leclerc in the next few rounds will all but end his title hopes, leaving the door wide open for Verstappen and Sergio Pérez to fight between them for the 2022 crown.
What’s essential for Ferrari is that they “stick together” through this incredibly tough period, whilst they attempt to get on top of their ongoing issues.
Former racer Ralf Schumacher believes Ferrari need a “solution quickly” to their problems, especially as Red Bull appear to have fixed the reliability problems which they faced themselves at the start of the season.
The uncle of Haas F1 Team driver Mick Schumacher, thinks Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is the perfect person to keep the Italian ship sailing, after “always looking calm”.
“After a strong start, first the drivers’ consistency dwindled, followed by technical issues. And that at a time when they could potentially have won the world championship,” he told Servus TV.
“They need to find a solution quickly but I don’t think they will be able to get their problems under control by Canada.
“They just need to stick together now,” Schumacher insisted.
“Mattia Binotto is very good at that – he always looks calm on the outside.”