Ferrari will be entering the new year already with a headache, after a year of ups and downs which has seemingly ended on a negative note.
It has been a seriously challenging few years for the Scuderia, who languished in the midfield in 2020 and 2021, before shocking the world at the start of 2022.
Charles Leclerc emphatically claimed two victories from the opening three rounds of the season, sending a clear message to the entire paddock that Ferrari were back and crucially, meant business.
Leclerc’s early season performances quickly had the Monegasque labelled as the title favourite, a label that vanished in true Ferrari fashion as of late.
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Driver errors, reliability gremlins, and endless strategic blunders saw issues mount within the Ferrari camp, that team principal Mattia Binotto ultimately couldn’t deal with.
The F1 community watched on as Ferrari lost several victories all through their own doing, much to the frustration of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Ultimately, the Scuderia had to watch on as Red Bull and Max Verstappen cruised to both titles, leaving Ferrari without a title once again.
The only consolation was that Leclerc claimed second in the standings, as did Ferrari, something that at least cements the Italians place once again as a frontrunning team.
It is set to be all change again, though, for Ferrari next season, with Binotto having resigned as team principal.
The Italian faced an onslaught of criticism for their strategic errors, something that the team principal failed to deal with correctly.
Given that Binotto has worked for Ferrari for 28 years, it’s extremely sad that he felt like there was no other choice but to resign, perhaps suggesting how toxic the Maranello camp is currently.
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F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who was Ferrari’s team principal from 2008-2014 and is the last Ferrari boss to win a title, has explained how vital it is that the Italians sort out their issues and “find the right solution”, with the famous side being important for the sport.
“I really hope that Ferrari will find the right solution to stay on track, because they did a big recovery from where they were two years ago,” Domenicali told Sky Sports.
“We need Ferrari to be competitive and we need to have a good team, a strong team, strong drivers, to fight against the others. So that’s the wish that I’m hoping for.”