Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen certainly made the most of Ferrari’s seemingly endless errors last season, with the Dutchman having won the 2022 title with a record number of points.
Verstappen was imperious last season, with the 25-year-old having claimed a record-breaking 15 wins.
He was seemingly unstoppable in 2022, with Charles Leclerc having been his closest challenger.
Whilst Leclerc was Verstappen’s biggest competitor last year, the Red Bull driver wasn’t Leclerc’s biggest threat, with that honour having gone to his car.
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Several reliability failures saw Leclerc lose vital points, with Ferrari having made costly errors at times when the car was running smoothly.
Strategic errors saw Leclerc lose multiple victories, with Verstappen having often been on hand to capitalise from Ferrari’s embarrassment.
As a result, the Maranello-based team became somewhat of a laughing stock, as proven by Verstappen.
In a recently surfaced clip ahead of last season’s Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen was seen discussing the weather conditions for the weekend in Spa, with rain having been forecast.
“Rain on Friday and Saturday. More chaos [in the wet] but in the dry, Ferrari has more options to f*** up the strategies,” Verstappen said, in the recent documentary ‘Max Verstappen: Anatomy of a Champion’.
Verstappen went on to win the race despite having started 14th, in what was one of the Dutchman’s greatest ever performances.
Sergio Perez claimed second whilst Carlos Sainz finished third, with Leclerc having crossed the line in sixth after recovering from 15th.
Ferrari haven’t yet suffered a strategic error so far this season, although, Leclerc has certainly suffered from reliability problems.
The Monegasque retired following an engine failure in Bahrain whilst running in third, with him having been slapped with a 10-place grid penalty as a result in Saudi Arabia.
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Ferrari certainly have power unit issues once again this season, with it already looking likely that 2023 won’t be their season.
If they can continue their run of not making strategic errors then it’ll at least give Ferrari something to celebrate, given that they’re currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
The upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a venue that Leclerc has bad memories of as well, with the 25-year-old having retired with a power unit failure whilst leading the race 12 months ago.