Ferrari really dropped all the balls this weekend. Sainz has been in the way of other drivers repeatedly, which falls on his engineer who should let him know when cars are coming. In rainy conditions the drivers can't see jack nothing in their mirrors and it's like Sainz was just left to his own devices by his engineer.
Honorable mention for Tsunoda doing his best mobile roadblock impression. Holy heck he was constantly in the way this weekend.
Then there is poor Leclerc. He asked for slicks, and his team overruled him and it caused him to be eliminated in Q2. How much longer can he stomach Ferrari incompetence before he starts putting feelers out for a drive elsewhere? As things are going at the Ferrari strategy desk it's clear the prancing horse has bolted the barn and his chances of getting a championship is in the low zeros.
Qualifying alone is four. One for Charles and three times Sainz impeding other drivers. If I remember Leclerc was also in the way at the final chicane at least once in Quali.
I feel for him. He is one of the fastest drivers in the field, and where others' (Ham, Russel, Norris, for instance) lack of results this year is mostly down to a bad car package, in Ferrari's case it's just strategy and team not listening to their drivers.
I mean the Ferrari is not a slow car, up to Monaco it's been the second/third fastest car in the field, but the Ferrari clownshoes tripping over themselves has not allowed their drivers to get the most out of the car.
Yeah, Leclerc has the chance to be one of the biggest and saddest what ifs in current F1 history. He's a bit prone to errors, I think he's trying to hard sometimes, to make up for shit from the pits. But I can't remember a driver and car combination so promising, yet so underperforming in current times.
It was very telling when Leclerc said he thinks he should be on soft and the response over the radio was that Verstappen was on the same tyre as him.
That's not the point!
I really think he want out the team but there's no other options at the minute.
yes, poor management from strategy/pit wall people. Again.
It's beyond my understanding how a team like this can make basic errors. It should be a given that you cover the basics of car racing procedures as is communication with your drivers and being sure drivers and pitwall are reading the same page of the manual.
All said, I can not agree with how Charles over reacts as if he was fighting for WDC. Of course, several years in his contract with Ferrari and it might be that he sees no progress in the team.
They fired head strategist for this year but are making the same errors.
I don't get it. While Ferrari did make a mistake by not listening to Leclerc, he was on the same strategy as the red bulls and Sainz. Verstappen and Sainz pulled out the lap necessary to progress while Leclerc and perez did not. How exactly is Leclerc blameless in this
Well red bull also had a similar strategy to Ferrari and perez got knocked out in Q2 as well but nobody is saying RB got their strategy wrong which resulted in perez's elimination. Yes it is true that leclerc recommended slicks whereas perez did not but it is still the teams responsibility to pick the right tyre. Ferrari are treated way worse for making similar mistakes
At this point I feel like a Red Bull drive, where he replaces Perez, is the ideal move for someone as talented as Leclerc. The opening races of the 2022 season really showed that he can keep up with Max on nearly every level. I hope he gets the chance
Unfortunately, as long as Max is at red bull I doubt we will see someone as talented as Leclerc move there. They need a number 2 driver, not someone that can challenge Max.
I would love to see Lando move to red bull if Max goes for an early retirement but realistically they will probably just get tsunoda once checo's contract expires.
Agreed, they need to find their Bottas 2.0. Perez was filling that role. However, even with such a dominant car, Checo is falling behind the last few races. Would not be surprised if a replacement was called up next year. For sure the year after if there's is a contract issue.