F1: Ferrari have to be honest with themselves

Betway’s Digital PR team sat down with former F1 driver and current Sky Sports broadcaster Karun Chandhok, to get his thoughts on the 2022 season.

Chandhok offers his thoughts on the new regulations of 2022, as well as the issues Ferrari has faced throughout the year:

How do you feel the season has gone with the new regulations?

On the whole it’s been a season that’s somewhat flattered to deceive. We started off with very high expectations of a Ferrari versus Red Bull battle going all the way to Abu Dhabi. I remember standing in the pit lane after Melbourne and Ferrari had absolutely blitzed that weekend, and we all thought it was going to be quite hard for Red Bull to recover. They were over 40 points behind at that point.

But Ferrari has just underperformed. They’ve not maximized the potential of their car, which is a frustrating thing because they’ve actually got a very fast car. I have a spreadsheet that I update as the season goes, tracking car performance based on all the dry qualifying sessions, so it’s pure pace. And even as of now, the Ferrari is the faster car, yet they are nearly 200 points behind in the championship. So much of that is down to reliability, operations, engine penalties and driver errors, just a flood of things.

So, a season that flattered to deceive in some ways, with the big story being Mercedes, of course.

What do Ferrari need do to fix their issues for next year?

They’ve got to be honest with themselves. If I think back to the great team bosses of the sport, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, they didn’t suffer fools. They would not have tolerated multiple errors strategically in the way that they’ve had this year. And some of it’s just basic, like what we saw in Brazil – when there’s water on the ground, you put the wet tires on, if there’s no water, you put the dry ones on.

The drivers aren’t immune to errors either, both of them have made their fair share across the season. So, as a collective, they’ve got to have an honest conversation with themselves and recognize where they should have been better.

Is that a symptom of a lack of success at Ferrari in recent years? Have they struggled to deal with the pressure of a title fight?

That’s why they’re all in it, isn’t it? They’re in this game to win, that’s why their paid the big bucks. They’re not being paid five-figure salaries to do their jobs. They’re paid six, seven-figure salaries, so you’re paid to deal with the pressure, just like drivers are paid big money to deal with the pressure and the risks and the dangers. That’s part of the territory, it’s what you’ve signed up for. Betway.com